i Dee MEER f oa ANIMAL CHEMISTRY, Sc. ANIMAL CHEMISTRY, OR ORGANIC CHEMISTRY IN ITS APPLICATIONS TO PHYSIOLOGY AND PATHOLOGY. BY JUSTUS LIEBIG, M.D., Pa.D.,-F.R.S., M.R.1A-. PROFESSOR OF CHEMISTRY IN THE UNIVERSITY OF GIESSEN. EDITED FROM THE AUTHOR'S MANUSCRIPT BY WILLIAM GREGORY, M.D., F.R.S.E., M.R.LA. PROFESSOR OF MEDICINE AND CHEMISTRY IN THE UNIVERSITY AND KING’S COLLEGE, ABERDEEN. LONDON: PRINTED FOR TAYLOR AND WALTON, UPPER GOWER STREET. 1842. Printed by J. L. Cox & Sons, 75, Great Queen Street, Lincoln’s-Inn Fields. TO THE BRITISH ASSOCIATION FOR THE ADVANCEMENT OF SCIENCE. — ——— At the meeting of the British Association in Glasgow, in 1840, I had the honour to present the first part of a report on the then present state of Organic Chemistry, in which I endeavoured to de- velope the doctrines of this science in their bearing on Agriculture and Physiology. It affords me now much gratification to be able to communicate to the meeting of the Association for the present year the second part of my labours; in which I have attempted to trace the application of Organic Chemistry to Animal Physiology and Pathology. In the present work an extensive series of phe- nomena have been treated in their chemical rela- tions; and although it would be presumptuous to consider the questions here raised as being definitely resolved, yet those who are familiar with chemistry vi DEDICATION. will perceive that the only method which can lead to their final resolution, namely, the quantitative me- thod, has been employed. The formule and equations in the second part, therefore, although they are not to be viewed as ascertained truths, and as furnishing a complete, or the only explanation of the vital processes there treated of, are yet true in this sense: that being deduced from facts by logical induction, they must stand as long as no new facts shall be opposed to them. When the chemist shews, for example, that the elements of the bile, added to those of the urate of ammonia, correspond exactly to those of blood, he presents to us a fact which is independent of all hypothesis. It remains for the physiologist to de- termine, by experiment, whether the conclusions drawn by the chemist from such a fact be accurate or erroneous. And whether this question be an- swered in the affirmative or in the negative, the fact remains, and will some day find its true explana- tion. I have now to perform the agreeable duty of expressing my sense of the services rendered to me in the preparation of the English edition by my friend Dr. Gregory. The distinguished station he occupies as a chemist; the regular education which DEDICATION. Vii he has received in the various branches of medicine ; and his intimate acquaintance with the German language—all these, taken together, are the best securities that the translation is such as to convey the exact sense of the original; securities, such as are not often united in the same individual. It is my intention to follow this second part with a third, the completion of which, however, cannot be looked for before the lapse of two years. This third part will contain an investigation of the food of man and animals, the analysis of all articles of diet, and the study of the changes which the raw food undergoes in its preparation ; as, for example, in fermentation (bread), baking, roasting, boiling, &c. Already, it is true, many analyses have been made for the proposed work ; but the number of objects of investigation is exceedingly large, and in order to determine with accuracy the absolute value of seed, or of flour, or of a species of fodder, &c., as food, the ultimate analysis alone is not sufficient ; there are required comparative investigations, which present very great difficulties. Dr. JUSTUS LIEBIG. GIESSEN, 3rd June, 1842. NOTE. I would beg leave to refer the chemical as well as the physiological reader particularly to the analyses (in Note (27), Appendix) of the animal tissues, which ought to have been referred to on pages 43 and 126, and which at present are only referred to in Note (7). Since the work was printed, moreover, there has been added, at the end of the Appendix, an interesting paper by Keller (see page 325), confirming the very important ob- servation of A. Ure, junior, as to the conversion of benzoic acid into hippuric acid in the human body; a fact which I perceive, by the Philosophical Maga- zine for June, has also been confirmed by Mr. Gar- rod, probably at an earlier period than by M. Keller. The reader will perceive that this fact strengthens materially the argument of the Author on the action of remedies. W. G. PREFACE. By the application to Chemistry of the methods which had for centuries been followed by philoso- phers in ascertaining the causes of natural pheno- mena in physics—by the observation of weight and measure—LAvoIsIER laid the foundation of a new science, which, having been cultivated by a host of distinguished men, has, in a singularly short period, reached a high degree of perfection. It was the investigation and determination of all the conditions which are essential to an observation or an experiment, and the discovery of the true principles of scientific research, that protected chemists from error, and conducted them, by a way equally simple and secure, to discoveries which have shed a brilliant light on those natural phenomena which were previously the most obscure and incom- prehensible. The most useful applications to the arts, to industry, and to all branches of knowledge related to chemistry, sprung from the laws thus established ; and this influence was not delayed till chemistry x PREFACE. had attained its highest perfection, but came into action with each new observation. All existing experience and observation in other departments of science reacted, in like manner, on the improvement and developement of chemistry ; so that chemistry received from metallurgy and from other industrial arts as much benefit as she had conferred on them. While they simultaneously increased in wealth, they mutually contributed to the developement of each other. After mineral chemistry had gradually attained its present state of developement, the labours of chemists took a new direction. From the study of the constituent parts of vegetables and animals, new and altered views have arisen; and the present work is an attempt to apply these views to physio- logy and pathology. In earlier times the attempt has been made, and often with great success, to apply to the objects of the medical art the views derived from an acquaint- ance with chemical observations. Indeed, the great physicians, who lived towards the end of the seven- teenth century, were the founders of chemistry, and in those days the only philosophers acquainted with it. The phlogistic system was the dawn of a new day; it was the victory of philosophy over the rudest empiricism. PREFACE. X1 With all its discoveries, modern chemistry has performed but slender services to physiology and pathology; and we cannot be deceived as to the cause of this failure, if we reflect that it was found impossible to trace any sort of relation between the observations made in inorganic chemistry, the know- ledge of the characters of the elementary bodies and of such of their compounds as could be formed in the laboratory, on the one hand, and the living body, with the characters of its constituents, on the other. Physiology took no share in the advancement of chemistry, because for a long period she received from the latter science no assistance in her own developement. This state of matters has been entirely changed within five-and-twenty years. But during this period physiology has also acquired new ways and methods of investigation within her own province; and it is only the exhaustion of these sources of discovery which has enabled us to look forward to a change in the direction of the labours of physiologists. The time for such a change is now at hand; and a perseverance in the methods lately followed in physiology would now, from the want, which must soon be felt, of fresh points of departure for researches, render physiology more extensive, but neither more profound nor more solid. Xil PREFACE. No one will venture to maintain, that the know- ledge of the forms and of the phenomena of motion in organized beings is either unnecessary or unprofit- able. On the contrary, this knowledge must be considered as altogether indispensable to that of the vital processes. But it embraces only one class of the conditions necessary for the acquisition of that knowledge, and is not of itself sufficient to enable us to attain it. The study of the uses and functions of the diffe- rent organs, and of their mutual connection in the animal body, was formerly the chief object of physi- ological researches ; but lately this study has fallen into the back-ground. The greater part of all the modern discoveries has served to enrich comparative anatomy far more than physiology. These researches have yielded the most valuable results in relation to the recognition of the dissimi- lar forms and conditions to be found in the healthy and in the diseased organism; but they have yielded no conclusions calculated to give us a more profound insight into the essence of the vital pro- cesses. The most exact anatomical knowledge of the structure of the tissues cannot teach us their uses ; and from the microscopical examination of the most minute reticulations of the vessels we can learn no PREFACE. Xlll more as to their functions than we have learned concerning vision from counting the surfaces on the eye of the fly. The most beautiful and elevated problem for the human intellect, the discovery of the laws of vitality, cannot be resolved, nay, cannot even be imagined, without an accurate knowledge of chemical forces ; of those forces which do not act at sensible distances; which are manifested in the same way as those ultimate causes by which the vital phenomena are determined; and which are invariably found active, whenever dissimilar sub- stances come into contact. Physiology, even in the present day, still endea- vours, but always after the fashion of the phlogistic chemists (that is, by the qualitative method), to apply chemical experience to the removal of diseased conditions; but with all these countless experi- ments we are not one step nearer to the causes and the essence of disease. Without proposing well-defined questions, experi- menters have placed blood, urine, and all the consti- tuents of the healthy or diseased frame, in contact with acids, alkalies, and all sorts of chemical re- agents; and have drawn, from observation of the changes thus produced, conclusions as to their behaviour in the body. XIV PREFACE. By pursuing this method, useful remedies or modes of treatment might by accident be disco- vered; but a rational physiology cannot be founded on mere re-actions, and the living body cannot be viewed as a chemical laboratory. In certain diseased conditions, in which the blood acquires a viscid consistence, this state cannot be permanently removed by a chemical action on the fluid circulating in the blood-vessels. The deposit of a sediment from the urine may, perhaps, be prevented by alkalies, while their action has not the remotest tendency to remove the cause of disease. Again, when we observe, in typhus, inso- luble salts of ammonia in the feces, and a change in the globules of the blood similar to that which may be artificially produced by ammonia, we are not, on that account, entitled to consider the pre- sence of ammonia in the body as the cause, but only as the effect of a cause. Thus medicine, after the fashion of the Aristote- lian philosophy, has formed certain conceptions in regard to nutrition and sanguification ; articles of diet have been divided into nutritious and non- nutritious; but these theories, being founded on observations destitute of the conditions most essen- tial to the drawing of just conclusions, could not be received as expressions of the truth. PREFACE. XV How clear are now to us the relations of the different articles of food to the objects which they serve in the body, since organic chemistry has applied to the investigation her quantitative method of research! When a lean goose, weighing 4 lbs., gains, in thirty-six days, during which it has been fed with 24 lbs. of maize, 5lbs. in weight, and yields 34|bs. of pure fat, this fat cannot have been contained in the food, ready formed, because maize does not contain the thousandth part of its weight of fat, or of any substance resembling fat. And when a certain number of bees, the weight of which is exactly known, being fed with pure honey, devoid of wax, yield one part of wax for every twenty parts of honey consumed, without any change being percep- tible in their health or in their weight, it is impossi- ble any longer to entertain doubt as to the forma- tion of fat from sugar in the animal body. We must adopt the method which has thus led to the discovery of the origin of fat, in the investiga- tion of the origin and alteration of the secretions, as well as in the study of all the other phenomena of the animal body. From the moment that we begin to look earnestly and conscientiously for the true answers to our questions, that we take the trou- ble, by means of weight and measure, to fix our XV1 PREFACE. observations, and express them in the form of equations, these answers are obtained without diffi- culty. However numerous our observations may be, yet, if they only bear on one side of a question, they will never enable us to penetrate the essence of a natural phenomenon in its full significance. If we are to derive any advantage from them, they must be directed to a well-defined object; and there must be an organized connection between them. Mechanical philosophers and chemists justly ascribe to their methods of research the greater part of the success which has attended their labours. The result of every such investigation, if it bear in any degree the stamp of perfection, may always be given in few words; but these few words are eter- nal truths, to the discovery of which numberless experiments and questions were essential. The researches themselves, the laborious experiments and complicated apparatus, are forgotten as soon as the truth is ascertained. They were the ladders, the shafts, the tools, which were indispensable to enable us to attain to the rich vein of ore; they were the pillars and air passages which protected the mine from water and from foul air. Every chemical or physical investigation, how- ever insignificant, which lays claim to attention, PREFACE. XVil must in the present day possess this character. From a certain number of observations it must enable us to draw some conclusion, whether it be extended or limited. The imperfection of the method or system of research adopted by physiologists can alone explain the fact, that for the last fifty years they have esta- blished so few new and solid truths in regard to a more profound knowledge of the functions of the most important organs, of the spleen, of the liver, and of the numerous glands of the body; and the limited acquaintance of physiologists with the me- thods of research employed in chemistry will con- tinue to be the chief impediment to the progress of physiology, as well as a reproach which that science eannot escape. Before the time of Lavoisier, Scheele, and Priestley, chemistry was not more closely related to physics than she is now to physiology. At the present day chemistry is so fused, as it were, into physics, that it would be a difficult matter to draw the line between them distinctly. The connection between chemistry and physiology is the same, and in another half-century it will be found impossible to separate them. Our questions and our experiments intersect in numberless curved lines the straight line that leads b XVill PREFACE. to truth. It is the points of intersection that indi- eate to us the true direction; but, owing to the imperfection of ‘the human intellect, these curve lines must be pursued. Observers in chemistry and physics have the eye ever fixed on the object which they seek to attain. One may succeed, for a space, in following the direct line; but all are prepared for circuitous paths. Never doubting of the ultimate success of their efforts, provided they exhibit con- stancy and perseverance, their eagerness and cou- rage are only exalted by difficulties. Detached observations, without connection, are points scattered over the plain, which do not allow us to choose a decided path. For centuries chemis- try presented nothing but these points, and sufficient means were available to fill up the intervals be- tween them. But permanent discoveries and real progress were only made when chemists ceased to make use of fancy to connect them. My object in the present work has been to direct at- tention to the points of intersection of chemistry with physiology, and to point out those parts in which the sciences become, as it were, mixed up together. It contains a collection of problems, such as chemistry at present requires to be resolved; and a number of conclusions drawn according to the rules of that scienee from such observations as have been made. PREFACE. xix These questions and problems will be resolved : and we cannot doubt that we shall have in that case a new physiology and a rational pathology. Our sounding line, indeed, is not long enough to mea- sure the depths of the sea, but is not on that account less valuable to us: if it assist us, in the mean time, to avoid rocks and shoals, its use is suf- _ ficiently obvious. In the hands of the physiologist, organic chemistry must become an _ intellectual instrument, by means of which he will be enabled to trace the causes of phenomena invisible to the bodily sight; and if among the results which I have developed or indicated in this work, one alone shall admit of a useful application, I shall consider the object for which it was written as fully attained. The path which has led to it will open up other paths; and this I consider as the most important object to be gained. JUSTUS LIEBIG. Giessen, April, 1842. paves i i/o ing 2 oe Hy S BEY : WAFS 2° gre i : 7 a r 4 i wis S71 ee a | ¥ ps 2: La = a hoi ~~ % ¥ a vn Pe pie ip . on ts = Set Pt potyees ey sa pekt eat ccxler ie i Tis sini =e , 3 = di #3 = vg Eee a =4 J _ e ae iat — P , ; 7 Ps - 7 oF? 3 Tea Ls : iy > aT) g s a. y af y rer : a - Os om = MT ieed” . ’ CONTENTS PART I. Vital force, vis vite, or vitality page 1 Distinction between animal and vegetable life antl Assimilation the result of chemical forces + Vitality independent of consciousness 6 Laws of the vital force 8 Conditions of animal life 9 Nutrition depends on chemical changes 11 Amount of oxygen inspired by an adult man 12 It combines with carbon and hydrogen in the body 15 The consumption of oxygen varies 15 Effect of heat on these variations pa - 16 The mutual action of oxygen and carbon in the ede is ae true source of animal heat fe be as 5a en The amount of oxygen regulates that of food eee 20 Effects of climate on the appetite... ane wa oe oo The process of starvation ... aa see ove oe =25 Cause of death in starvation and chronic diseases ... coe 27 Nerves and muscles not the source of animal body ne: 29 Amount of animal heat sae ope the ose ~ 34 Nervous and vegetative life ... esa pos vee coe 338 Nutrition depends on the constituents of blood... wee 40 Identity of organic composition in fibrine and albumen... 41 Nutrition in the carnivora the most simple ... ses wee «644 In the herbivora, depends on the azotised products of vege- fables Se» “ar os aS se abe soe £5 Xx CONTENTS. These products identical with the constituents of blood ... 47 The blood of animals is therefore formed by vegetables... 48 Uses of the non-azotised ingredients of food apy we 90 Changes of the food in the organism of carnivora ... ao. 3S Carbon accumulates in the bile = see a3: es 8S Nitrogen in the urine mae 33: Baa ae ese HOU The carbon is consumed or burned ... ase eos wee 60 True function of the bile... ae ah ee oo, ge Amount of bile secreted... S or ae Pr tops NEL is) aes + 30. Gelatinous tissues ... 2Pr + 3NH; + HO + 70. 17. From this general statement it appears that all the tissues of the body contain, for the same * The quantities of sulphur and phosphorus here expressed by S and Pare not equivalents, but only give the relative proportions of these two elements to each other, as found by analysis. { ae / y 2 { ol / OF ORGANIC TISSUES. 127 amount of carbon, more oxygen than the consti- tuents of blood. During their formation, oxygen, either from the atmosphere or from the elements of water, has been added to the elements of pro- teine. In hair and gelatinous membrane we ob- serve, further, an excess of nitrogen and hydrogen, and that in the proportions to form ammonia. Chemists are not yet agreed on the question, in what manner the elements of sulphate of potash are arranged ; it would therefore be going too far, were they to pronounce arterial membrane a hydrate of proteine, chondrine a hydrated oxide of proteine, and hair and membranes compounds of ammonia with oxides of proteine. The above formule express with precision the differences of composition in the chief constituents of the animal body; they shew, that for the same amount of carbon the proportion of the other ele- ments varies, and how much more oxygen or nitro- gen one compound contains than another. 18. By means of these formulz we can trace the production of the different compounds from the constituents of blood; but the explanation of their production may take two forms, and we have to decide which of these comes nearest to the truth. For the same amount of carbon, membranes and the tissues which yield gelatine contain more nitro- gen, oxygen, and hydrogen than proteine. It is conceivable that they are formed from albumen by the addition of oxygen, of the elements of water, 128 GELATINE CONTAINS NO PROTEINE. and of those of ammonia, accompanied by the sepa- ration of sulphur and phosphorus; at all events, their composition is entirely different from that of the chief constituents of blood. The action of caustic alkalies on the tissues yield- ing gelatine shews distinctly that they no longer contain proteine ; that substance cannot in any way be obtained from them ; and all the products formed by the action of alkalies on them differ entirely from those produced by the compounds of proteine in the same circumstances. Whether proteine exist, ready formed, in fibrine, albumen, and caseine, or not, it is certain that their elements, under the in- fluence of the alkali, arrange themselves so as to form proteine ; but this property is wanting in the elements of the tissues which yield gelatine. The other, and perhaps the more probable expla- nation of the production of these tissues from pro- teine, is that which makes it dependent on a sepa- ration of carbon. If we assume the nitrogen of proteine to remain entire in the gelatinous tissue, then the composition of the latter, calculated on 6 equivalents of nitrogen, would be represented by the formula, C,,N5H,,0,,. This formula approaches most closely to the analysis of Scherer, although it is not an exact expression of his results. A formula corresponding more per- fectly to the analyses, is C,.N;H,,O,.; or, calculated according to Mulder’s analysis, C,,N )H,.0.).* * The formula C;,NsH,Ox», adopted by Mulder, gives, when ORIGIN OF GELATINE. 129 According to the first formula, carbon and hydro- gen have been separated; according to the two last, a certain proportion of all the elements has been removed. 19. We must admit, as the most important re- sult of the study of the composition of gelatinous tissue, and as a point undeniably established, that, although formed from compounds of proteine, it no longer belongs to the series of the compounds of proteine. Its chemical characters and composition justify this conclusion. No fact is as yet opposed to the law, deduced from observation, that nature has exclusively des- tined compounds of proteine for the production of blood. No substance analogous to the tissues yielding gelatine is found in vegetables. The gelatinous substance is not a compound of proteine; it con- tains no sulphur, no phosphorus, and it contains more nitrogen or less carbon than proteine. The compounds of proteine, under the influence of the vital energy of the organs which form the blood, assume a new form, but are not altered in composi- tion; while these organs, as far as our experience reaches, do not possess the power of producing compounds of proteine, by virtue of any influence, out of substances which contain no proteine. Ani- mals which were fed exclusively with gelatine, the reduced to 100 parts, too little nitrogen to be considered an exact expression of his analyses. K 130 ORIGIN OF GELATINE. most highly nitrogenised element of the food of carnivora, died with the symptoms of starvation; in short, the gelatinous tissues are incapable of conver- sion into blood. But there is no doubt that these tissues are formed from the constituents of the blood; and we can hardly avoid entertaining the supposition, that the fibrine of venous blood, in becoming arterial fibrine, passes through the first stage of conversion into gelatinous tissue. We cannot, with much pro- bability, ascribe to membranes and tendons the power of forming themselves out of matters brought by the blood; for how could any matter become a portion of cellular tissue, for example, by virtue of a foree which has as yet no organ? An already existing cell may possess the power of reproducing or of multiplying itself, but in both cases the pre- sence of a substance identical in composition with cellular tissue is essential. Such matters are formed in the organism, and nothing can be better fitted for their production than the substance of the cells and membranes which exist in animal food, and become soluble in the stomach during digestion, or which are taken by man in a soluble form. 20. In the following pages I offer to the reader an attempt to develope analytically the principal metamorphoses which occur in the animal body; and, to preclude all misapprehension, I do this with a distinct protest against all conclusions and deduc- tions which may now or at any subsequent period be METAMORPHOSIS OF TISSUES. 131 derived from it in opposition to the views developed in the preceding part of this work, with which it has no manner of connection. The results here to be described have surprised me no less than they will others, and have excited in my mind the same doubts as others will conceive ; but they are not the creations of fancy, and I give them because I enter- tain the deep conviction that the method which has led to them is the only one by which we can hope to acquire insight into the nature of the organic processes. The numberless qualitative investigations of ani- mal matters which are made are equally worthless for physiology and for chemistry, so long as they are not instituted with a well-defined object, or to answer a question clearly put. If we take the letters of a sentence which we wish to decipher, and place them in a line, we advance not a step towards the discovery of their meaning. To resolve an enigma, we must have a perfectly clear conception of the problem. ‘There are many ways to the highest pinnacle of a mountain; but those only can hope to reach it who keep the summit constantly in view. All our labour and all our efforts, if we strive to attain it through a morass, only serve to cover us more completely with mud ; our progress is impeded by difficulties of our own creation, and at last even the greatest strength must give way when so absurdly wasted. 21. If it be true that all parts of the body are K 2 132 THE SECRETIONS CONTAIN formed and developed from the blood or the con- stituents of the blood, that the existing organs at every moment of life are transformed into new com- pounds under the influence of the oxygen introduced in the blood, then the animal secretions must of necessity contain the products of the metamorphosis of the tissues. 22. If it be further true, that the urine con- tains those products of metamorphosis which contain the most nitrogen, and the bile those which are richest in carbon, from all the tissues which in the vital process have been transformed into unorganised compounds, it is clear that the elements of the bile and of the urine, added together, must be equal, in the relative proportion of these elements to the com- position of the blood. 23. The organs are formed from the blood, and contain the elements of the blood; they become transformed into new compounds, with the addition only of oxygen and of water. Hence the relative proportion of carbon and nitrogenmust be the same as in the blood. If then we subtract from the composition of blood the elements of the urine, then the remainder, de- ducting the oxygen and water which have been added, must give the composition of the bile. Or if from the elements of the blood, we subtract the elements of the bile, the remainder must give the composition of urate of ammonia, or of urea and carbonic acid. | ALL THE ELEMENTS OF THE BLOOD. 133 It will surely appear remarkable that this manner of viewing the subject has led to the true formula of bile, or, to speak more accurately, to the most correct empirical expression of its composition ; and has furnished the key to its metamorphoses, under the influence of acids and alkalies, which had previously been sought for in vain. 24. When fresh drawn blood is made to trickle over a plate of silver, heated to 140°, it dries to a red, varnish-like matter, easily reduced to pow- der. Muscular flesh, free from fat, if dried first in a gentle héat, and then at 212°, yields a brown, pulverizable mass. The analyses of PLayrarr and BoECKMANN (28) give for flesh (fibrine, albumen, cellular tissue, and nerves) and for blood, as the most exact expres- sion of their numerical results, one and the same formula, namely, C,,N,H,,0,,, This may be called the empirical formula of blood. 25. The chief constituent of bile, according to the researches of DEMaARcAyY, is a compound, analogous to soaps, of soda with a peculiar sub- stance, which has been named choleice acid. This acid is obtained in combination with oxide of lead, when bile, purified by means of alcohol from all matters insoluble in that menstruum, is mixed with acetate of lead. Choleie acid is resolved, by the action of muriatie acid, into ammonia, taurine, and a new acid, cholo- idic acid, which contains no nitrogen. 134 METAMORPHOSES OF BILE. When boiled with caustic potash, choleic acid is resolved into carbonic acid, ammonia, and another new acid, cholic acid (distinct from the cholic acid of Gmelin). Now it is clear that the true formula of choleic acid must include the analytical expression of these modes of decomposition; in other words, that it must enable us to shew that the composition of the products derived from it is related, in a clear and simple manner, to the composition of the acid itself. This is the only satisfactory test of a formula; and the analytical expression thus obtained loses nothing of its truth or value, if it should appear, as the re- searches of BERZELIUS seem to shew, that choleic and choloidic acids are mixtures of different com- pounds; for the relative proportions of the ele- ments cannot in any way be altered by this cireum- stance. 26. In order to develope the metamorphoses which choleic acid suffers under the influence of acids and alkalies, the following formula alone can be adopted as the empirical expression of the results of its analysis. Formula of choleic acid : C;,;N,;H O02. (29) I repeat, that this formula may express the com- position of one, or of two or more compounds ; no matter of how many compounds the so-called choleic acid may be made up, the above formula represents the relative proportions of all their ele- ments taken together. METAMORPHOSES OF BILE. 135 If now we subtract from the elements of choleic acid, the products formed by the action of muriatic acid, namely, ammonia and taurine, we obtain the empirical formula of choloidic acid. Thus: from the Formula of choleic acid ..........+. C,,N-H O02 Subtract— 1 atom taurine......... CANELO.. a C, NH O10 lyeqs ammonia.2ici ts; NH; There remains the formula of cho- Wee ACI. wees scdanotsacenoscs = C,, H;,O,. (80) 27. Again, if from the formula of choleic acid we subtract the elements of urea and 2 atoms of water (= 2 eq. carbonic acid and 2 eq. ammonia), there will remain the formula and composition of cholie acid. Thus; from the Formula of choleic acid ............ = C,,N2H,.022 subtract— 2 eq. carbonic acid = C, O oe i = Cc N.H, QO, 2 eq. ammonia = N, Remains the formulaof cholicacid = Cz, HgOis (381) When we consider the very close coincidence be- tween these formule and the actual results of ana- lysis (see Appendix, 29, 30, 31), it is scarcely possible to doubt that the formula above adopted for choleic acid expresses, as accurately as is to be expected in the analysis of such compounds, the relative propor- tion of its elements, no matter in how many difter- ent forms they may be united to produce that acid. 28. Let us now add the half of the numbers which represent the formula of choleic acid, to the 136 RELATION OF BILE TO FIBRINE. elements of the urine of serpents—that is, to neu- tral urate of ammonia, as follows : 3 the formula of choleic acid...... = C3,N H3;0n Add to this— ] eq. UWEIC ACICS << cee a CiNE.O, | C oN, EL O, 1 eq. ammonia...... = N H; MME SUM 1S oe cseiepessenectsasceeces == Ou Noe 29. But this last formula expresses the composi- tion of blood, with the addition of 1 eq. oxygen and 1 eq. water. HormalarOl b1GOd .. ash sssacenissinncsectecdes: apes 1 eq. Water seeceereeeeerereee = HO] _ HO EQ OMVC Macs ceadescaee-sece' — 0 ' Me SUM IS 5c. secsevasssces oy esare coves = CNH 0), 30. If, moreover, we add to the elements of pro- teine those of 3 eq. water, we obtain, with the ex- ception of 1 eq. hydrogen, exactly the same formula. Formula Of proteine.... aa52 = C,NyHz.02, The transformation of the compounds of proteine present in the body is effected by means of the oxygen conveyed by the arterial blood, and if the elements of starch, rendered soluble in the stomach, and thus carried to every part, enter into the newly formed compounds, we have the chief constituents of the animal secretions and excretions; carbonic acid, the excretion of the lungs, urea and carbonate of ammonia, excreted by the kidneys, and choleic acid, secreted by the liver. Nothing, therefore, in the chemical composition of those matters which may be supposed to- take a 154 SODA ESSENTIAL TO THE share in these metamorphoses, is opposed to the supposition that a part of the carbon of the non- azotised food enters into the composition of the bile. 52. Fat, in the animal body, disappears when the supply of oxygen is abundant. When that sup- ply is deficient, choleic acid may be converted into hippuric acid, lithofellic acid, (37) and water. Li- thofellic acid is known to be the chief constituent of the bezoar stones, which occur in certain herbi- vorous animals : 2 at. choleic acid C,,N.H,,Ox [ - 10 at. oxygen ... Ont 2 at. hip. acid C3,N,H;,.O,9 1 at.-lith. acid. -@,;, “Hee [14 at. Wales wee Hi C,;N2H 5,032 C5N2H 5032 53. For the production of bile in the animal body a certain quantity of soda is, in all cirecum- stances, necessary ; without the presence of a com- pound of sodium no bile can be formed. In the absence of soda, the metamorphosis of the tissues composed of proteine can yield only fat and urea, If we suppose fat to be composed according to the empirical formula C,,H,,O, then, by the addition of oxygen and the elements of water to the elements of proteine, we have the elements of fat, urea, and carbonic acid. Proteine. Water. Oxygen. 2 (CysNsH3,0.,) + 12 HO + 14 O = C,,N,,H,;,0;, = [ GpaAle WIFE? Gc ezuu bee == Gio jotta. BED al’. 2h ease. och ee =; “Hae 18 at. carbonic acid = C,, O;, CogN 12H 05, FORMATION OF THE BILE. 155 The composition of all fats lies between the em- pirical formule C,,H,,O and C,,H,,O. If we adopt the latter, then the elements of 2 at. proteine, with the addition of 2 at. oxygen and 12 at. water, will yield 6 at. urea, fat (C,.H,,O,), and 12 at. carbonic acid. It is worthy of observation, in reference to the production of fat, that the absence of common salt (a compound of sodium which furnishes soda to the animal organism) is favourable to the formation of fat; that the fattening of an animal is rendered impossible, when we add to its food an excess of salt, although short of the quantity required to pro- duce a purgative effect. 54. Asa kind of general view of the metamor- phoses of the nitrogenised animal secretions, atten- tion may here be very properly directed to the fact, that the nitrogenised products of the transfor- mation of the bile are identical in ultimate compo- sition with the constituents of the urine, if to the latter be added a certain proportion of the elements of water: I at. uric acid C,,N,H, al Peatercay?... C, NO, O, 22 at. water ... H..0., | ee C,2N 6H39O30 CisNgH 3.050 1 at. allantoine C,N.H,; O; \. f l at. taurme C,N H,O, 7 at. water ... H, O, me at.ammonia N H, CNH yO jo CN2H Oo is at. taurine C,,N;H~.,Ox 3 at. ammonia N;H, 55. In reference to the metamorphoses of uric 156 RELATION OF URINE TO BILE. acid and of the products of the transformation of the bile, it is not less significant, and worthy of remark, that the addition of oxygen and the ele- ments of water to the elements of uric acid may yield either taurine and urea, or taurine, carbonic acid, and ammonia. 1 at. uric acid C,N,H,O 14 at. water...... ate at. taurine Cs NzHyO2 O | 1 at. urea ... C, NH O, 2 Zvat..oxygen ... C,)N,H,,022 CyoNH,s022 | 2 at. taurine ... Cz; NSHy,Ox wig at.carbon.acid C, O,; Add 2 at. water HO, 2 at. ammonia N.H, CoN iH O02, CyNsH 9024 56. Alloxan, plus a certain amount of water, is identical in the proportion of elements with taurine ; and finally, taurine contains the elements of super- oxalate of ammonia. 1 at. alloxan* C,N,H, Oy | Taurine. HO f = 2 (CsNH;Oy) 2 at. oxalic acid C, OF 10 at. water 1 at. taurine C,NH,O,, = 1 at. ammonia NH; 4 at. water... HO; C,NH,Oj * It would be most interesting to investigate the action of alloxan on the human body. ‘Two or three drachms, in crystals, had no injurious action on rabbits to which it was given. In man, a large dose appeared to act only on the kidneys. In certain diseases of the liver, alloxan would very probably be found a most powerful remedy.—QJ. L. RELATION OF STARCH TO BILE. 157 57. The comparison of the amount of carbon in the bile secreted by an herbivorous animal, with the quantity of carbon of its tissues, or of the nitrogen- ised constituents of its food, which in consequence of the constant transformations may pass into bile, indicates, as we have just seen, a great difference. The carbon of the bile secreted amounts, at least, to more than five times the quantity of that which could reach the liver in consequence of the change of matter in the body, either from the metamor- phosed tissues or from the nitrogenised constituents of the food; and we may regard as well founded the supposition that the non-azotised constituents of the food take a decided share in the production of bile in the herbivora; for neither experience nor observation contradicts this opinion. 58. We have given, in the foregoing paragraphs, the analytical proof, that the nitrogenised products of the transformation of bile, namely, taurine and ammonia, may be formed from all the constituents of the urine, with the exception of urea—that is, from hippuric acid, uric acid, and allantoine; and when we bear in mind that, by the mere separation of oxygen and the elements of water, choloidie acid may be formed from starch ;— From 6 at. starch = 6 (C,2:H Oo) = C72H 60060 Subtract 44 at. oxygen] wv H, Ox 4 at. water [{ Remains choloidic acid ..........+. = C,.H;.Oy ;— that, finally, choloidic acid, ammonia, and taurine, 158 RELATION OF STARCH, &c. TO BILE. if added together, contain the elements of choleic acid ;— 1 at. choloidic acid = Cz, H;.O12 1 at. taurine ...... — C,N H, Oy 1 ‘at. ammonia ..;. — N H, 1 at. choleic acid = C,.N2HgO02 << if all this be considered, every doubt as to the pos- sibility of these changes is removed. 59. Chemical analysis and the study of the living animal body mutually support each other; and both lead to the conclusion that a certain portion of the carbon of the non-azotised constituents of food (of starch, &c., the elements of respiration) is secreted by the liver in the form of bile; and further, that the nitrogenised products of the trans- formation of tissues in the herbivora do not, as in the carnivora, reach the kidneys immediately or directly, but that, before their expulsion from the body in the form of urine, they take a share in cer- tain other processes, especially in the formation of the bile. They are conveyed to the liver with the non- azotised constituents of the food; they are returned to the circulation in the form of bile, and are not expelled by the kidneys till they have thus served for the production of the most important of the sub- stances employed in respiration. 60. When the urine is left to itself, the urea which it contains is converted into carbonate of ammonia; the elements of urea are in such propor- ORIGIN OF THE BILE. 159 tion, that by the addition of the elements of water, all its carbon is converted into carbonic acid, and all its nitrogen into ammonia. 1 at. urea C2N2H,02] j: 2 at. carbonic acid C, O, 2 at. water H.0O, J ‘eee | 2 at. ammonia ... N.H; C.N,H,O, C.N.H,O,; 61. Were we able directly to produce taurine and ammonia out of uric acid or allantoine, this might perhaps be considered as an additional proof of the share which has been ascribed to these com- pounds in the production of bile; it cannot, how- ever, be viewed as any objection to the views above developed on the subject, that, with the means we possess, we have not yet succeeded in effecting these transformations out of the body. Such an objection loses all its foree, when we consider that we cannot admit, as proved, the pre-existence of taurine and ammonia in the bile; nay, that it is not even probable that these compounds, which are only known to us as products of the decomposition of the bile, exist ready formed, as ingredients of that fluid. By the action of muriatic acid on bile, we, in a manner, force its elements to unite in such forms as are no longer capable of change under the influ- ence of the same re-agent; and when, instead of the acid, we use potash, we obtain the same ele- ments, although arranged in another, and quite a different manner. If taurine were present, ready 160 ORIGIN OF THE BILE. formed, in bile, we should obtain the same products by the action of acids and of alkalies. This, how- ever, is contrary to experience. Thus, even if we could convert allantoine, or uric acid and urea, into taurine and ammonia, out of the body, we should acquire no additional insight into the true theory of the formation of bile, just because the pre-existence of ammonia and taurine in the bile must be doubted, and because we have no rea- son to believe that urea or allantoine, as such, are employed by the organism in the production of bile. We can prove that their elements serve this pur- pose, but we are utterly ignorant how these ele- ments enter into these combinations, or what is the chemical character of the nitrogenised compound which unites with the elements of starch to form bile, or rather choleic acid. 62. Choleic acid may be formed from the ele- ments of starch with those of urie acid and urea, or of allantoine, or of uric acid, or of alloxan, or of ox- alice acid and ammonia, or of hippuric acid. The possibility of its being produced from so great a va- riety of nitrogenised compounds is sufficient to shew that all the nitrogenised products of the meta- morphosis of the tissues may be employed in the formation of bile, while we cannot tell in what pre- cise way they are so employed. By the action of caustic alkalies allantoine may be resolved into oxalic acid and ammonia; the same products are obtained when oxamide is acted VITAL METAMORPHOSES. 161 on by the same re-agents. Yet we cannot, from the similarity of the products, conclude that these two compounds have a similar constitution. In like manner the nature of the products formed by the action of acids on choleic acid does not entitle us to draw any conclusion as to the form in which its elements are united together. 63. If the problem to be solved by organic che- mistry be this, namely, to explain the changes which the food undergoes in the animal body; then it is the business of this science to ascertain what ele- ments must be added, what elements must be se- parated, in order to effect, or, in general, to ren- der possible, the conversion of a given compound into a second or a third; but we cannot expect from it the synthetic proof of the accuracy of the views entertained, because every thing in the orga- nism goes on under the influence of the vital force, an immaterial agency, which the chemist cannot employ at will. The study of the phenomena which accompany the metamorphoses of the food in the organism, the discovery of the share which the atmosphere or the ele- ments of water take in these changes, lead at once to the conditions which must be united in order to the production of a secretion or of an organized part. 64. The presence of free muriatic acid in the stomach, and that of soda in the blood, prove beyond all doubt the necessity of common salt for the or- ganic processes ; but the quantities of soda required M 162 USES OF COMMON SALT by animals of different classes, to support the vital processes, are singularly unequal. If we suppose, that a given amount of blood, considered as a compound of soda, passes, in the body of a carnivorous animal, in consequence of the change of matter, into a new compound of soda, namely, the bile, we must assume, that in the nor- mal condition of health, the proportion of soda in the blood is amply sufficient to form bile with the products of transformation. The soda which has been used in the vital processes, and any excess of soda, must be expelled in the form of a salt, after being separated from the blood by the kidneys. Now, if it be true, that, in the body of an herbivo- rous animal, a much larger quantity of bile is pro- duced than corresponds to the amount of blood formed or transformed in the vital processes; if the greater part of the bile, in this case, proceeds from the non-azotised constituents of the food, then the soda of the blood which has been formed into or- ganised tissue (assimilated or metamorphosed) can- not possibly suffice for the supply of the daily seere- tion of bile. The soda, therefore, of the bile of the herbivora must be supplied directly in the food ; their organism must possess the power of applying directly to the formation of bile all the compounds of soda present in the food, and decomposable by the organic process. All the soda of the animal body obviously proceeds from the food; but the food of the carnivora contains, at most, only the IN THE ORGANIC PROCESSES. 163 amount of soda necessary to the formation of blocd ; and in most cases, among animals of this class, we may assume that only as much soda as corresponds to the proportion employed to form the blood is expelled in the urine. When the carnivora obtain in their food as much soda as suffices for the production of their blood, an equal amount is exereted in the urine; when the food contains less, a part of that which would other- wise be excreted is retained by the organism. All these statements are most unequivocally con- firmed by the composition of the urine in these different classes of animals. 65. As the ultimate product of the changes of all compounds of soda in the animal body, we find in the urine the soda in the form of a salt, and the nitrogen in that of ammonia or urea. The soda in the urine of the carnivora is found in combination with sulphuric and phosphoric acids ; and along with the sulphate and phosphate of soda we never fail to find a certain quantity of a salt of ammonia, either muriate or phosphate of ammonia. There can be no more decisive evidence in favour of the opinion, that the soda of their bile or of the metamorphosed constituents of their blood is very far from sufficing to neutralize the acids which are separated, than the presence of ammonia in their urine. This urine, moreover, has an acid re-action. In contradistinction to this, we find, in the urine of the herbivora, soda in predominating quantity ; M 2 164 LARGE AMOUNT OF ALKALIES and that not combined with sulphuric or phosphorie acids, but with carbonic, benzoic, or hippuric acids. 66, These well-established facts demonstrate that the herbivora consume a far larger quantity of soda than is required merely for the supply of the daily consumption of blood. In their food are united all the conditions for the production of a second compound of soda, destined for the support of the respiratory process ; and it can only be a very limited knowledge of the vast wisdom displayed in the arrangements of organized nature which can look on the presence of so much soda in the food and in the urine of the herbivora as accidental. It cannot be accidental, that the life, the develope- ment of a plant is dependant on the presence of the alkalies which it extracts from the soil. This plant serves as food to an extensive class of animals, and in these animals the vital process is again most closely connected with the presence of these alkalies. We find the alkalies in the bile, and their presence in the animal body is the indispensable condition for the production of the first food of the young animal; for without an abundant supply of potash, the production of milk becomes impossible. 67. All observation leads, as appears from the preceding exposition, to the opinion, that certain non-azotised constituents of the food of the herbi- vora (starch, sugar, gum, &c.) acquire the form of a compound of soda, which, in their bodies, serves for the same purpose as that which we know cer- REQUIRED BY THE HERBIVORA. 165 tainly to be served by the bile (the most highly car- bonized product of the transformation of their tissues) in the bodies of the carnivora. These substances are employed to support certain vital actions, and are finally consumed in the generation of animal heat, and in furnishing means of resistance to the action of the atmosphere. In the carnivora, the rapid transformation of their tissues is a condition of their existence, because it is only as the result of the change of matter in the body that those sub- stances can be formed, which are destined to enter into combination with the oxygen of the air; and in this sense we may say that the non-azotised con- stituents of the food of the herbivora impede the change of matter, or retard it, and render unneces- sary, at all events, so rapid a process as occurs in the carnivora. 68. The quantity of azotised matter, proportion- ally so small, which the herbivora require to sup- port their vital functions, is closely connected with the power possessed by the non-azotised parts of their food to act as means of supporting the respi- ratory process; and this consideration seems to render it not improbable, that the necessity for more complex organs of digestion in the herbivora is rather owing to the difficulty of rendering soluble and available for the vital processes certain non- azotised compounds (gum ? amylaceous fibre?) than to any thing in the change or transformation of vegetable fibrine, albumen, and caseine into blood; 166 STARCH, ETC. ASSIST IN FORMING since, for this latter purpose, the less complex di- gestive apparatus of the carnivora is amply suffi- cient. 69. If, in man, when fed on a mixed diet, starch perform a similar part to that which it plays in the body of the herbivora; if it be assumed that the elements of starch are equally necessary to the for- mation of the bile in man as in these animals; then it follows that a part of the azotised products of the transformation of the tissues in the human body, before they are expelled through the bladder, re- turns into the circulation from the liver in the shape of bile, and is separated by the kidneys from the blood, as the ultimate product of the respiratory process. 70. When there is a deficiency of non-azotised matter in the food of man, this form of the produc- tion of bile is rendered impossible. In that case, the secretions must possess a different composition ; and the appearance of uric acid in the urine, the deposition of uric acid in the joints and in the bladder, as well as the influence which an excess of animal food (which must be considered equivalent to a deficiency of starch, &c.) exercises on the separa- tion of uric acid in certain individuals, may be explained on this principle. If starch, sugar, &e., be deficient, then a part of the azotised compounds formed during the change of matter will either remain in the situation where they have been formed, in which case they will not be sent from BILE IN THE HUMAN BODY. 167 the liver into the circulation, and therefore will not undergo the final changes dependant on the action of oxygen; or they will be separated by the kid- neys in some form different from the normal one. 71. In the preceding paragraphs I have endea- voured to prove that the non-azotised constituents of food exercise a most decided influence on the nature and quality of the animal secretions. Whe- ther this occur directly ; whether, that is to say, their elements take an immediate share in the act of transformation of tissues; or whether their share in that process be an indirect one, is a question probably capable of being resolved by careful and cautious experiment and observation. It is possible, that the non-azotised constituents of food, after undergoing some change, are carried from the intes- tinal canal directly to the liver, and that they are converted into bile in this organ, where they meet with the products of the metamorphosed tissues, and subsequently complete their course through the circulation. This opinion appears more probable, when we reflect that as yet no trace of starch or sugar has been detected in arterial blood, not even in animals which had been fed exclusively with these sub- stances. We cannot ascribe to these substances, since they are wanting in arterial blood, any share in the nutritive process; and the occurrence of sugar in the urine of those affected with diabetes mellitus (which sugar, according to the best obser- 168 ORIGIN OF THE NITROGEN vations, is derived from the food) coupled with its total absence in the blood of the same patients, ob- viously proves that starch and sugar are not, as such, taken into the circulation. 72. The writings of physiologists contain many proofs of the presence of certain constituents of the bile in the blood of man in a state of health, al- though their quantity can hardly be determined. Indeed, if we suppose 84 Ibs. (58,000 grs.) of blood to pass through the liver every minute, and if from this quantity of blood 2 drops of bile (3 grains to the drop) are secreted, this would amount to gs'coth part of the weight of the blood, a proportion far too small to be quantitatively ascertained by analysis. 73. The greater part of the bile in the body of the herbivora, and in that of man fed on mixed food, appears from the preceding considerations to be derived from the elements of the non-azotised food. But its formation is impossible without the addition of an azotised body, for the bile is a com- pound of nitrogen. All varieties of bile yet exa- mined yield, when subjected to dry distillation, ammonia and other nitrogenised products. Taurine and ammonia may easily be extracted from ox bile ; and the only reason why we cannot positively prove that the same products may be obtained from the bile of other animals is this, that it is not easy to procure, in the case of many of these animals, a sufficient quantity of bile for the experiment. Now, whether the nitrogenised compound which CONTAINED IN HUMAN BILE. 169 unites with the elements of starch to form bile be derived from the food or from the substance of the metamorphosed tissues, the conclusion that its pre- sence is an essential condition for the secretion of bile cannot be considered doubtful. Since the herbivora obtain in their food only such nitrogenised compounds as are identical in composi- tion with the constituents of their blood, it is at all events clear, that the nitrogenised compound which enters into the composition of bile is derived from a compound of proteine. It is either formed in consequence of a change which the compounds of proteine in the food have undergone, or it is pro- duced from the blood or from the substance of the tissues by the act of their metamorphosis. 74. If the conclusion be accurate, that nitrogen- ised compounds, whether derived from the blood or from the food, take a decided share in the formation of the secretions, and particularly of the bile, then it is plain that the organism must possess the power of causing foreign matters, which are neither parts nor constituents of the organs in which vital activity resides, to serve for certain vital processes. All nitro- genised substances capable of being rendered soluble, without exception, when introduced into the organs of circulation or of digestion, must, if their compo- sition be adapted for such purposes, be employed by the organism in the same manner as the nitrogen- ised products which are formed in the act of meta- morphosis of tissues. 170 CERTAIN REMEDIES TAKE A We are acquainted with a multitude of sub- stances, which exercise a most marked influence on the act of transformation as well as on the nutritive process, while their elements take no share in the resulting changes. These are uniformly substances the particles of which are in a certain state of motion or decomposition, which state is communi- cated to all such parts of the organism as are ca- pable of undergoing a similar transformation. 7). Medicinal and poisonous substances form a second and most extensive class of compounds, the elements of which are capable of taking a direct or an indirect share in the processes of secretion and of transformation. These may be subdivided into three great orders; the first (which includes the metallic poisons) consists of substances which enter into chemical combination with certain parts or constituents of the body, while the vital force is insufficient to destroy the compounds thus fermed. The second division, consisting of the essential oils, camphor, empyreumatic substances, and antiseptics, &c., possesses the property of impeding or retarding those kinds of transformation to which certain very complex organic molecules are liable; transforma- tions which, when they take place out of the body, are usually designated by the names of fermentation and putrefaction. The third division of medicinal substances is composed of bodies, the elements of which take a direct share in the changes going on in the animal SHARE IN THE VITAL TRANSFORMATIONS. 171 body. When introduced into the system, they augment the energy of the vital activity of one or more organs; they excite morbid phenomena in the healthy body. All of them produce a marked effect in a comparatively small dose, and many are poi- sonous when administered in larger quantity. None of the substances in this class can be said to take a decided share in the nutritive process, or to be em- ployed by the organism in the production of blood ; partly, because their composition is different from that of blood, and, partly, because the proportion in which they must be given, to exert their influence, is as nothing, compared with the mass of the blood. These substanees, when taken into the cireula- tion, alter, as is commonly said, the quality of the blood, and in order that they may pass from the stomach into the circulation with their entire effi- cacy, we must assume that their composition is not affected by the organic influence of the stomach. If insoluble when given, they are rendered soluble in that organ, but they are not decomposed ; other- wise, they would be incapable of exerting any influ- ence on the blood. 76. The blood, in its normal state, possesses two qualities closely related to each other, although we may conceive one of them to be quite independent of the other. The blood contains, in the form of the globules, the carriers, as it were, of the oxygen which serves for the production of certain tissues, as well as for E Oe ARTERIAL BLOOD ACTS BY ITS the generation of animal heat. The globules of the blood, by means of the property they possess of giving off the oxygen they have taken up in the lungs, without losing their peculiar character, determine generally the change of matter in the body. The second quality of the blood, namely, the property which it possesses of becoming part of an organised tissue, and its consequent adaptation to promote the formation and the growth of organs, as well as to the reproduction or supply of waste in the tissues, is owing, chiefly, to the presence of dis- solved fibrine and albumen. These two chief con- stituents, which serve for nutrition and reproduc- tion of matter, in passing through the lungs are saturated with oxygen, or, at all events, absorb so much from the atmosphere as entirely to lose the power of extracting oxygen from the other sub- stances present in the blood. 77. We know for certain that the globules of the venous blood, when they come in contact with air in the lungs, change their colour, and that this change of colour is accompanied by an absorption of oxygen; and that all those constituents of the blood, which possess in any degree the power of combining with oxygen, absorb it in the lungs, and become sa- turated with it. Although in contact with these other compounds, the globules, when arterialised, retain their florid, red colour in the most minute ramifications of the arteries; and we observe them OXYGEN, FIBRINE, AND ALBUMEN. je to change their colour, and to assume the dark red colour which characterizes venous blood, only during their passage through the capillaries. From these facts we must conclude that the constituents of arterial blood are altogether destitute of the power to deprive the arterialised globules of the oxygen which they have absorbed from the air; and we can draw no other conclusion from the change of colour which occurs in the capillaries, than that the arterialised globules, during their passage through the capillaries, return to the condition which cha- racterized them in venous blood; that, consequently, they give up the oxygen absorbed in the lungs, and thus acquire the power of combining with that element afresh. 78. We find, therefore, in arterial blood, albu- men, which, like all the other constituents of that fluid, has become saturated with oxygen in its pas- sage through the lungs, and oxygen gas, which is conveyed to every particle in the body in chemical combination with the globules of the blood. As far as our observations extend (in the developement of the chick during incubation), all the conditions seem to be here united which are necessary to the formation of every kind of tissue; while that por- tion of oxygen which is not consumed in the growth or reproduction of organs combines with the sub- stance of the living parts, and produces, by its union with their elements, the act of transforma- tion which we have called the change of matter. 174 MODUS OPERANDI OF 79. It is obvious, that all compounds, of what- ever kind, which are present in the capillaries, whether separated there, or introduced by endos- mosis or imbibition, if not altogether incapable of uniting with oxygen, must, when in contact with the arterialised globules, the carriers of oxygen, be affected exactly in the same way as the solids form- ing part of living organs. These compounds, or their elements, will enter into combination with oxygen, and in this case there will either be no change of matter, or that change will exhibit itself in another form, yielding products of a different kind. 80. The conception, then, of a change in the two qualities of the blood above alluded to, by means of a foreign body contained in the blood or introduced into the circulation (a medicinal agent), presupposes two kinds of operation. Assuming that the remedy cannot enter into any such chemical union with the constituents of the blood as puts an end to the vital activity ; assuming, further, that it is not in a condition of transforma- tion capable of being communicated to the consti- tuents of the blood or of the organs, and of continu- ing in them; assuming, lastly, that it is incapable, by its contact with the living parts, of putting a stop to the change of matter, the transformation of their elements; then, in order to discover the modus operandi of this class of medicinal agents, nothing is left but to conclude that their elements take a share in the formation of certain constituents ORGANIC REMEDIAL AGENTS. 175 of the living body, or in the production of certain secretions. 81. The vital process of secretion, in so far as it is related to the chemical forces, has been subjected to examination in the preceding pages. In the ear- nivora we have reason to believe, that, without the addition of any foreign matter in the food, the bile and the constituents of the urine are formed in those parts where the change of matter takes place. In other classes of animals, on the other hand, we may suppose that in the organ of secretion itself, the secreted fluid is produced from certain matters conveyed to it; in the herbivora, for example, the bile is formed from the elements of starch along with those of a nitrogenised product of the meta- morphosis of the tissues. But this supposition by no means excludes the opinion, that in the carni- vora the products of the metamorphosed tissues are resolved into bile, uric acid, or urea, only after reach- ing the secreting organ; nor the opinion that the elements of the non-azotised food, conveyed directly by the circulation to every part of the body, where change of matter is going on, may there unite with the elements of the metamorphosed tissues, to form the constituents of the bile and of the urine. 82. If we now assume, that certain medicinal agents may become constituents of secretions, this can only occur in two ways. Either they enter the circulation, and take a direct share in the change of matter, in so far as their elements enter into the 176 NITROGENISED ORGANIC REMEDIES. composition of the new products; or they are con- veyed to the organs of secretion, where they exert an influence on the formation or on the quality of a secretion by the addition of their elements. In either case, they must lose in the organism their chemical character; and we know with suffi- cient certainty, that this class of medicinal bodies disappears in the body without leaving a trace. In fact, if we ascribe to them any effect, they cannot lose their peculiar character by the action of the stomach ; their disappearance, therefore, presupposes that they have been applied to certain purposes, which cannot be imagined to occur without a change in their composition. 83. Now, however limited may be our knowledge of the composition of the different secretions, with the exception of the bile, this much is certain, that all the secretions contain nitrogen chemically com- bined. They pass into fetid putrefaction, and yield either in this change, or in the dry distillation, am- moniacal products. Even the saliva, when acted on by caustic potash, disengages ammonia freely. 84. Medicinal or remedial agents may be divided into two classes, the nitrogenised and the non-ni- trogenised. The nitrogenised vegetable principles, whose composition differs from that of the proper nitrogenised elements of nutrition, also produced by a vegetable organism, are distinguished, beyond all others, for their powerful action on the animal eco- nomy. VEGETABLE ALKALIES, ETC. 177 The effects of these substances are singularly varied; from the mildest form of the action of aloes, to the most terrible poison, strychnia, we observe an endless variety of different actions. With the exception of three, all these substances produce diseased conditions in the healthy organ- ism, and are poisonous in certain doses. Most of them are, chemically speaking, basic or alkaline. No remedy, devoid of nitrogen, possesses a poison- ous action in a similar dose.* 85. The medicinal or poisonous action of the nitrogenised vegetable principles has a fixed rela- tion to their composition; it cannot be supposed to be independent of the nitrogen they contain, but is certainly not in direct proportion to the quan- tity of nitrogen. Solanine (38), and picrotoxine (39), which con- tain least nitrogen, are powerful poisons. Quinine (40) contains more nitrogen than morphia (41). Caffeine (42), and theobromine, the most highly nitrogenised of all vegetable principles, are not poisonous. 86. A nitrogenised body, which exerts, by means of its elements, an influence on the formation or on the quality of a secretion, must, in regard to its * This consideration or comparative view has led lately to a more accurate investigation of the composition of picrotoxine, the poisonous principle of cocculus indicus ; and M. Francis has discovered the existence of nitrogen in it, hitherto overlooked, and has also determined its amount. N 7s MODE OF ACTION OF NITROGENISED chemical character, be capable of taking the same share as the nitrogenised products of the animal body do in the formation of the bile; that is, it must play the same part as a product of the vital process. On the other hand, a non-azotised medi- cinal agent, in so far as its action affects the secre- tions, must be capable of performing in the animal body the same part as that which we have ascribed in the formation of the bile, to the non-azotised elements of food. Thus, if we suppose that the elements of hippuric or uric acids are derived from the substance of the organs in which vitality resides; that, as products of the transformation of these organs, they lose the vital character, without losing the capacity of under- going changes under the influence of the inspired oxygen, or of the apparatus of secretion; we ean hardly doubt that similar nitrogenised compounds, products of the vital process in plants, when intro- duced into the animal body, may be employed by the organism exactly in the same way as the nitro- genised products of the metamorphosis of the ani- mal tissues themselves. If hippuric and uric acids, or any of their elements, can take a share, for ex- ample, in the formation and supply of bile, we must allow the same power to other analogous nitro- genised compounds. We shall never, certainly, be able to discover how men were led to the use of the hot infusion of the leaves of a certain shrub (tea), or of a decoction VEGETABLE PRODUCTS: CAFFEINE. 179 of certain roasted seeds (coffee). Some cause there must be, which would explain how the practice has become a necessary of life to whole nations. But it is surely still more remarkable, that the beneficial effects of both plants on the health must be ascribed to one and the same substance, the presence of which in two vegetables, belonging to different natural families, and the produce of different quar- ters of the globe, could hardly have presented itself to the boldest imagination. Yet recent researches have shewn, in such a manner as to exclude all doubt, that caffeine, the peculiar principle of coffee, and theine, that of tea, are, in all respects, identical. It is not less worthy of notice, that the American Indian, living entirely on flesh, discovered for him- self, in tobacco smoke, a means of retarding the change of matter in the tissues of his body, and thereby of making hunger more endurable; and that he cannot withstand the action of brandy, which, acting as an element of respiration, puts a stop to the change of matter by performing the function which properly belongs to the products of the metamorphosed tissues. Tea and coffee were originally met with among nations whose diet is chiefly vegetable. 87. Without entering minutely into the medi- cinal action of caffeine (theine), it will surely appear a most striking fact, even if we were to deny its influence on the process of secretion, that this sub- stance, with the addition of oxygen and the elements N 2 180 RELATION OF CAFFEINE, ASPARAGINE, of water, can yield taurine, the nitrogenised com- pound peculiar to bile: 1 at. caffeine or theine — C,N,H; O, 9 at 4 wilten, Edlesslaceren == H, O, 9 at. OX VReM tee aeee = O, iF CsN2H,,Ox = —— vat. taurine; 22: 22.5.2 = 2 (C,NH,O,) A similar relation exists in the case of the pecu- liar principle of asparagus and of altheea, asparagine; which also, by the addition of oxygen and the elements of water, yields the elements of taurine: 1 at. asparagine — C,N,H; O, 6 at. water...... = H, 0; Stat. Oxon... 5— Os CsN2H,02 = — 2 at. taurine = 2 (C,NH,O,,) The addition of the elements of water and of a certain quantity of oxygen to the elements of theo- bromine, the characteristic principle of the cacao bean (theobroma cacao), yields the elements of taurine and urea, of taurine, carbonic acid, and ammonia, or of taurine and urie acid: 1 at. theobromine C,,N;H,,O iste a €ODromine UjgINg hh jpU4 if 4 at. taurine CigN HO 40 i Ate WALCT../ccs0s HO: mt stetaea 4, MEO 16 at. oxygen ... Or; CisN¢H32042 CisN6H3:042 or— 1 at. theobromine C,,.N, HyO; 4 at. taurine C,,N, H.,0, 24 at. water ...... 0uh=} at. carb. acid C, Oz 16 at. oxygen...... O,; 2at.ammonia N, H, CN Hs, Ou C,,N, H3,04 AND THEOBROMINE TO BILE AND URINE. 181 or— 1 at. theobromine C,,N,H,,O, , Soabe Water 2. co's HO: ltt at. oe C, N; H,,0.9 14 at. oxygen ..... O,, 1 at. uric acid C,,N,H, O,- CisN¢H,s02¢ Cialis Os. 88. To see how the action of caffeine, asparagine, theobromine, &c., may be explained, we must call to mind that the chief constituent of the bile contains only 3:8 per cent. of nitrogen, of which only the half, or 1°9 per cent., belongs to the tau- rine. Bile contains, in its natural state, water and solid matter, in the proportion of 90 parts by weight of the former to 10 of the latter. If we suppose these 10 parts by weight of solid matter to be choleic acid, with 3°87 per cent. of nitrogen, then 100 parts of fresh bile will contain 0-171 parts of nitrogen in the shape of taurine. Now this quantity is con- tained in 0°6 parts of caffeine ; or 2,8ths grains of caf- feine can give to an ounce of bile the nitrogen it contains in the form of taurine. If an infusion of tea contain no more than the ;4th of a grain of caf- feine, still, if it contribute in point of fact to the formation of bile, the action, even of such a quan- tity, cannot be looked upon as a nullity. Neither can it be denied that in the case of an excess of non-azotised food and a deficiency of motion, which is required to cause the change of matter in the tis- sues, and thus to yield the nitrogenised product which enters into the composition of the bile; that 182 MODE OF ACTION OF VEGETABLE in such a condition, the health may be benefited by the use of compounds which are capable of sup- plying the place of the nitrogenised product pro- duced in the healthy state of the body, and essen- tial to the production of an important element of respiration. In a chemical sense—and it is this alone which the preceding remarks are intended to shew—caffeine or theine, asparagine, and theobro- mine, are, in virtue of their composition, better adapted to this purpose than all other nitrogen- ised vegetable principles. The action of these sub- stances, in ordinary circumstances, is not obvious, but it unquestionably exists. 89. With respect to the action of the other nitro- genised vegetable principles, such as quinine, or the alkaloids of opium, &c., which manifests itself, not in the processes of secretion, but in phenomena of an- other kind, physiologists and pathologists entertain no doubt that it is exerted chiefly on the brain and nerves. This action is commonly said to be dyna- mic—that is, it accelerates, or retards, or alters in some way the phenomena of motion in animal life. If we reflect that this action is exerted by sub- stances which are material, tangible and ponder- able; that they disappear in the organism; that a double dose acts more powerfully than a single one ; that, after a time, a fresh dose must be given, if we wish to produce the action a second time; all these considerations, viewed chemically, permit only one form of explanation; the supposition, namely, that ALKALIES ON THE NERVOUS SYSTEM. 183 these compounds, by means of their elements, take a share in the formation of new, or the transforma- tion of existing brain and nervous matter. However strange the idea may, at first sight, ap- pear, that the alkaloids of opium or of cinchona bark, the elements of codeine, morphia, quinine, &c., may be converted into constituents of brain and nervous matter, into organs of vital energy, from which the organic motions of the body derive their origin; that these substances form a consti- tuent of that matter, by the removal of which the seat of intellectual life, of sensation, and of con- sciousness, is annihilated: it is, nevertheless, cer- tain, that all these forms of power and activity are most closely dependant, not only on the existence, but also on a certain quality of the substance of the brain, spinal marrow, and nerves; insomuch, that all the manifestations of the life or vital energy of these modifications of nervous matter, which are recognized as the phenomena of motion, sensation, or feeling, assume another form as soon as their composition is altered. The animal organism has produced the brain and nerves out of compounds furnished to it by vegetables; it is the constituents of the food of the animal, which, in consequence of a series of changes, have assumed the properties and the structure which we find in the brain and nerves. 90. If it must be admitted as an undeniable truth, that the substance of the brain and nerves is 184 COMPOSITION AND ORIGIN produced from the elements of vegetable albumen, fibrine and caseine, either alone, or with the aid of the elements of non-azotised food, or of the fat formed from the latter, there is nothing absurd in the opinion, that other constituents of vegetables, intermediate in composition between the fats and the compounds of proteine, may be applied in the organism to the same purpose. 91. According to the researches of Fremy, the chief constituent of the fat found in the brain is a compound of soda with a peculiar acid, the cerebric acid, which contains, in 100 parts, Carbon ... wee SOE 5c cos OOF Hydrogen Bs e. ie we 21036 Nitrogen bee ae ah 253 2°3 Phosphorus hs “ss wee ose 0:9 Oxygen ... sa Feo se oes 19°5 It is easy to see that the composition of cerebric acid differs entirely, both from that of ordinary fats and of the compounds of proteine. Common fats contain no nitrogen, while the compounds of pro- teine contain nearly 17 per cent. Leaving the phosphorus out of view, the composition of this acid approaches most nearly to that of choleic acid, although these two compounds are quite distinct. 92. Brain and nervous matter is, at all events, formed in a manner similar to that in which bile is produced ; either by the separation of a highly ni- trogenised compound from the elements of blood, or by the combination of a nitrogenised product of the OF THE NERVOUS MATTER. 185 vital process with a non-azotised compound (pro- bably, a fatty body). All that has been said in the preceding pages on the various possible ways by which the bile might be supposed to be formed, all the conclusions which we attained in regard to the co-operation of azotised and non-azotised elements of food, may be applied with equal justice and equal probability to the formation and production of the nervous substance. We must not forget that, in whatever light we may view the vital operations, the production of nervous matter from blood presupposes a change in the composition and qualities of the constituents of blood. That such a change occurs is as certain as that the existence of the nervous matter cannot be denied. In this sense, we must assume, that from a compound of proteine may be formed a first, se- cond, third, &c., product, before a certain number of its elements can become constituents of the nervous matter ; and it must be considered as quite certain, that a product of the vital process in a plant, intro- duced into the blood, will, if its composition be adapted to this purpose, supply the place of the first, second, or third product of the alteration of the compound of proteine. Indeed it cannot be consi- dered merely accidental, that the composition of the most active remedies, namely, the vegetable alka- loids, cannot be shewn to be related to that of any constituent of the body, except only the substance of the nerves and brain. All of these contain a 186 RELATION OF VEGETABLE ALKALIES certain quantity of nitrogen, and, in regard to their composition, they are intermediate between the compounds of proteine and the fats. 93. In contradistinction to their chemical charac- ter, we find that the substance of the brain exhibits the characters of an acid. It contains far more oxygen than the organic bases or alkaloids. We observe, that quinine and cinchonine, morphia and codeine, strychnia and brucia, which are, respectively, so nearly alike in composition, if they do not pro- duce absolutely the some effect, yet resemble each other in their action more than those which differ more widely in composition. We find that their energy of action diminishes, as the amount of oxy- gen they contain increases (as in the case of narco- tine), and that, strictly speaking, no one of them can be entirely replaced by another. There cannot be a more decisive proof of the nature of their ac- tion than this last fact ; it must stand in the closest relation to their composition. If these compounds, in point of fact, are capable of taking a share in the 'formation or in the alteration of the qualities of brain and nervous matter, their action on the healthy as well as the diseased organism admits of a surprisingly simple explanation. If we are not tempted to deny, that the chief constituent of soup may be applied to a purpose corresponding to its composition in the human body, or that the organic constituent of bones may be so employed in the body of the dog, although that substance (gelatine TO THE NERVOUS MATTER. 187 in both cases) is absolutely incapable of yielding blood; if, therefore, nitrogenised compounds, to- tally different from the compounds of proteine, may be employed for purposes corresponding to their composition ; we may thence conclude that a product of vegetable life, also different from proteine, but similar to a constituent of the animal body, may be employed by the organism in the same way and for the same purpose as the natural product, originally formed by the vital energy of the animal organs, and that, indeed, from a vegetable substance. The time is not long gone by, when we had not the very slightest conception of the cause of the vari- ous effects of opium, and when the action of cinchona bark was shrouded in incomprehensible obscurity. Now that we know that these effects are caused by erystallizable compounds, which differ as much in composition as in their action on the system; now that we know the substances to which the medi- cinal or poisonous energy must be ascribed, it would argue only want of sense to consider the action of these substances inexplicable; and to do so, as many have done, because they act in very minute doses, is as unreasonable as it would be to judge of the sharpness of a razor by its weight. 94. It would serve no purpose to give these con- siderations a greater extension at present. How- ever hypothetical they may appear, they only de- serve attention in so far as they point out the way which chemistry pursues, and which she ought not 188 THEORY OF THE ACTION OF to quit, if she would really be of service to physio- logy and pathology. The combinations of the che- mist relate to the change of matter, forwards and backwards, to the conversion of food into the various tissues and secretions, and to their metamorphosis into lifeless compounds ; his investigations ought to tell us what has taken place and what can take place in the body. It is singular that we find me- dicinal agencies all dependant on certain matters, which differ in composition ; and if, by the intro- duction of a substance, certain abnormal conditions are rendered normal, it will be impossible to reject the opinion, that this phenomenon depends on a change in the composition of the constituents of the diseased organism, a change in which the elements of the remedy take a share; a share similar to that which the vegetable elements of food have taken in the formation of fat, of membranes, of the saliva, of the seminal fluid, &e. Their carbon, hydrogen, or nitrogen, or whatever else belongs to their compo- sition, are derived from the vegetable organism ; and, after all, the action and effects of quinine, mor- phia, and the vegetable poisons in general, are no hypotheses. 95. Thus, as we may say, in a certain sense, of caffeine or theine and asparagine, &c., as well as of the non-azotised elements of food, that they are food for the liver, since they contain the elements, by the presence of which that organ is enabled to perform its functions, so we may consider these ni- NITROGENISED VEGETABLE PRODUCTS. 189 trogenised compounds, so remarkable for their action on the brain and on the substance of the organs of motion, as elements of food for the organs as yet unknown, which are destined for the metamorphosis of the constituents of the blood into nervous sub- stance and brain. Such organs there must be in the animal body, and if, in the diseased state, an ab- normal process of production or transformation of the constituents of cerebral and nervous matter has been established; if, in the organs intended for this purpose, the power of forming that matter out of the constituents of blood, or the power of resisting an abnormal degree of activity in its decomposition or transformation, has been diminished; then, in a chemical sense, there is no objection to the opinion, that substances of a composition analogous to that of nervous and cerebral matter, and, consequently, adapted to form that matter, may be employed, in- stead of the substances produced from the blood, either to furnish the necessary resistance, or to re- store the normal condition. 96. Some physiologists and chemists have ex- pressed doubts of the peculiar and distinct character of cerebric acid}; a substance which, from its amount of carbon and hydrogen, and from its external cha- racters, resembles a nitrogenised fatty acid. But a nitrogenised fat, having an acid character, is, in fact, no anomaly. Hippuric acid is in many of its characters very similar to the fatty acids, but is essentially distinguished from them by containing = 190 PHOSPHORUS SEEMS ESSENTIAL nitrogen. The organic constituents of bile resem- ble the acid resins in physical characters, and yet contain nitrogen. The organic alkalies are inter- mediate in their physical characters between the fats and resins, and they all contain nitrogen. . ¥ Nogauhennlfy We tivgovok hede vi 1 sake aie laistia’ ve eo oa) te inc aa iheftortiwy bal deal g ol i Cp. SALT hay? ta acne) (ont ovale om mere, & SF ak bein + Tac peal a é me Vie | ’ a a : i : ‘ P : -¥ ey eee z= oom wy ang i by T ff t AN ¢ 4, 77> ‘ P id f » em? ¢ > Ey. Vee Tt Meg MED VS ay a } Paly i wid ; Oey oi > re A prt. Sigel ith 4 ‘ ‘ it eh a. ‘ as @, woot het eeu aiticetaee s/s , ~ * e = T, a uw | ‘aie He « ay. . © al - ~ 7 ' ¢ pas a £ pA : ? a , adn rit ce fe a ATA ivi tT um & F } ‘ aka ey EA ee aS! PER % Mi \ i ‘4 ii ' ' atte 4 * « ‘ ' , PARE BLE a THE PHENOMENA OF MOTION IN THE ANIMAL ORGANISM. THE PHENOMENA OF MOTION IN THE ANIMAL ORGANISM. —= > f. Ir might appear an unprofitable task to add one more to the innumerable forms under which the human intellect has viewed the nature and essence of that peculiar cause which must be considered as the ultimate source of the phenomena which characterize vegetable and animal life, were it not that certain conceptions present themselves as ne- cessary deductions from the views on this subject developed in the introduction to the first part of this work. The following pages will be devoted to a more detailed examination of these deductions. It must be admitted here, that all these conclu- sions will lose their force and significance, if it can be proved that the cause of vital activity has in its manifestations nothing in common with other known causes which produce motion or change of form and structure in matter. But a comparison of its peculiarities with the modus operandi of these other causes, cannot, at all events, fail to be advantageous, inasmuch as the nature and essence of natural phenomena are 0 2 196 THE PHENOMENA OF MOTION recognizable, not by abstraction, but only by com- parative observations. If the vital phenomena be considered as mani- festations of a peculiar force, then the effects of this force must be regulated by certain laws, which laws may be investigated; and these laws must be in harmony with the universal laws of resistance and motion, which preserve in their courses the worlds of our own and other systems, and which also determine changes of form and structure in material bodies; altogether independently of the matter in which vital activity appears to reside, or of the form in which vitality is manifested. The vital force in a living animal tissue appears as a cause of growth in the mass, and of resistance to those external agencies which tend to alter the form, structure, and composition of the substance of the tissue in which the vital energy resides. This force further manifests itself as a cause of motion and of change in the form and structure of material substances, by the disturbance and abolition of the state of rest in which those chemical forces exist, by which the elements of the compounds conveyed to the living tissues, in the form of food, are held together. The vital force causes a decomposition of the constituents of food, and destroys the force of at- traction which is continually exerted between their molecules; it alters the direction of the chemical forces in such wise, that the elements of the con- ' IN THE ANIMAL ORGANISM. 197 stituents of food arrange themselves in another form, and combine to produce new compounds, either identical in composition with the living tissues, or differing from them; it further changes the direction and force of the attraction of co- hesion, destroys the cohesion of the nutritious com- pounds, and forces the new compounds to assume forms altogether different from those which are the result of the attraction of cohesion when acting freely, that is, without resistance. The vital force is also manifested as a force of attraction, Inasmuch as the new compound produced by the change of form and structure in the food, when it has a composition identical with that of the living tissue, becomes a part of that tissue. Those newly-formed compounds, whose compo- sition differs from that of the living tissue, are removed from the situation in which they are formed, and, in the shape of certain secretions, being carried to other parts of the body, undergo in contact with these a series of analogous changes. The vital force is manifested in the form of resistance, inasmuch as by its presence in the living tissues, their elements acquire the power of with- standing the disturbance and change in their form and composition, which external agencies tend to produce; a power which, simply as chemical com- pounds, they do not possess. As in the case of other forces, the conception of an unequal intensity of the vital force comprehends 198 THE PHENOMENA OF MOTION not only an unequal capacity for growth in the mass, and an unequal power of overcoming che- mical resistance, but also an inequality in the amount of that resistance which the parts or con- stituents of the living tissue oppose to a change in their form and composition, from the action of new external active causes of change; just as the force of cohesion or of affinity is in direct proportion to the resistance which these forces oppose to any ex- ternal cause, mechanical or chemical, tending to separate the molecules, or the elements of an exist- ing compound. The manifestations of the vital force are depen- dent on a certain form of the tissue in which it re- sides, as well as on a fixed composition in the sub- stance of the living tissue. The capacity of growth in a living tissue is de- termined by the immediate contact with matters adapted to a certain decomposition, or the elements of which are capable of becoming component parts of the tissue in which vitality resides. The phenomenon of growth, or increase in the mass, presupposes that the acting vital force is more powerful than the resistance which the chemical force opposes to the decomposition or transforma- tion of the elements of the food. The manifestations of the vital force are depen- dent on a certain temperature. Neither in a plant nor in an animal do vital phenomena occur when the temperature is lowered to a certain extent. IN THE ANIMAL ORGANISM. 199 The phenomena of vitality in a living organism diminish in intensity when heat is abstracted, pro- vided the lost heat be not restored by other causes. Deprivation of food soon puts a stop to all mani- festations of vitality. The contact of the living tissues with the ele- ments of nutrition is determined in the animal body by a mechanical force produced within the body, which gives to certain organs the power of causing change of place, of producing motion, and of over- coming mechanical resistance. We may communicate motion to a body at rest by means of a number of forces, very different in their manifestations. Thus, a time-piece may be set in motion by a falling weight (gravitation), or by a bent spring (elasticity). Every kind of motion may be produced by the electric or magnetic force, as well as by chemical attraction ; while we cannot say, as long as we only consider the manifestation of these forces in the phenomenon or result produced, which of these various causes of change of place has set the body in motion. In the animal organism we are acquainted with only one cause of motion; and this is the same cause which determines the growth of living tissues, and gives them the power of resistance to external agencies ; it is the vital force. In order to attain a clear conception of these manifestations of the vital force, so different in form, we must bear in mind, that every known 200 THE PHENOMENA OF MOTION force is recognized by two conditions of activity, entirely different in the phenomena they offer to the attention of the observer. The force of gravitation inherent in the particles of a stone, gives to them a continual tendency to move towards the centre of the earth. This effect of gravitation becomes inappreciable to the senses when the stone, for example, rests upon a table, the particles of which oppose a resist- ance to the manifestation of its gravitation. The force of gravity, however, is constantly present, and manifests itself as a pressure on the supporting body ; but the stone remains at rest; it has no mo- tion. The manifestation of its gravity in the state of rest we call its weight. That which prevents the stone from falling is a resistance produced by the force of attraction, by which the particles of the wood cohere together; a mass of water would not prevent the fall of the stone. If the force which impelled the mass of the stone towards the centre of the earth were greater than the force of cohesion in the particles of the wood, the latter would be overcome; it would be unable to prevent the fall of the stone. When we remove the support, and with it the force which has prevented the manifestation of the force of gravity, the latter at once appears as the cause of change of place in the stone, which acquires motion, or falls. Resistance is invariably the result of a force in action. IN THE ANIMAL ORGANISM. 201 According as the stone is allowed to fall during a longer or shorter time, it acquires properties which it had not while at rest; it acquires, for example, the power of overcoming more feeble or more pow- erful obstacles, or that of communicating motion to bodies in a state of rest. If it fall from a certain height it makes a per- manent impression on the spot on which it falls; if it fall from a still greater height (during a longer time) it perforates the table; its own motion is communicated to a certain number of the particles of the wood which now fall along with the stone itself. The stone, while at rest, possessed none of these properties. The velocity of the falling body is always the effect of the moving force, and is, ceteris paribus, proportional to the force of gravitation. A body, falling freely, acquires at the end of one second a velocity of 30 feet. The same body, if falling on the moon, would acquire in one second only a velocity of 39,ths of a foot—1 inch, because, in the moon, the intensity of gravitation (the pressure acting on the body, the moving power) is 360 times smaller. If the pressure continue uniform, the velocity is directly proportional to it; so that, for example, the body falling 360 times slower, will, after 360 seconds, have the same velocity as the other body after one second. Consequently, the effect is proportional, not to 202 THE PHENOMENA OF MOTION the moving force alone, nor to the time alone, but to the pressure multiplied into the time, which is called the momentum of force. In two equal masses the velocity expresses the momentum of force. But under the same pressure a body moves more slowly as its mass is greater; a mass twice as great requires, in order to attain in the same time an equal velocity, twice the pressure ; or, under the single pressure, it must continue in motion twice as long. In order, therefore, to have an expression for the whole effect produced, we must multiply the mass into the velocity. This product is called the amount of motion. The amount of motion ina given body must in all cases correspond exactly to the momentum of force. These two, the amount of motion and the mo- mentum of force, are also called simply force ;— because we suppose that a less pressure acting, for example, during 10 seconds, is equal to a pressure ten times greater, acting only during one second. The momentum of motion in mechanics signifies the effect of a moving force, without reference to the time (velocity) in which it was manifested. If one man, for example, raises 30 lbs. to a height of 100 feet, and a second one 350 Ibs. to a height of 200 feet, then the latter has expended twice as much force as the former. A third who raises 60 lbs. to a height of 50 feet, expends no more force than the first did in raising 30Ibs. to the height of « IN THE ANIMAL ORGANISM. 208 100 feet. The momentum of motion of the first (830X100) is equal to that of the third (60X50), while that of the second (380X200) is twice as great. Momentum of force and momentum of motion in mechanics are therefore expressions or measures for effects of force, having reference to the velocity attained in a given time, or to a given space; and in this sense they may be applied to the effects of all other causes of motion, or of change in form and structure, however great or however small may be the space or the time in which their effects are dis- played to the senses. Every force, therefore, exhibits itself in matter either in the form of resistance to external causes of motion, or of change in form and structure; or as a moving force when no resistance is opposed to it; or, finally, in overcoming resistance. One and the same force communicates motion and destroys motion; the former, when its manifes- tations are opposed by no resistance; the latter, when it puts a stop to thé manifestation of some other cause of motion, or of change in form and structure. Equilibrium or rest is that state of activity iit which one force or momentum of motion is destroyed by an opposite force or momentum of motion. ‘ We observe both these manifestations of activity in that force which gives to the living tissues their peculiar properties. 204 THE PHENOMENA OF MOTION The vital force appears as a moving force or cause of motion when it overcomes the chemical forces (cohesion and affinity) which act between the constituents of food, and when it changes the posi- tion or place in which their elements occur; it is manifested as a cause of motion in overcoming the chemical attraction of the constituents of food, and is, further, the cause which compels them to combine in a new arrangement, and to assume new forms. It is plain that a part of the animal body pos- sessed of vitality, which has therefore the power of overcoming resistance, and of giving motion to the elementary particles of the food, by means of the vital force manifested in itself must have a mo- mentum of motion, which is nothing else than the measure of the resulting motion or change in form and structure. We know that this momentum of motion in the vital force, residing in a living part, may be em- ployed in giving motion to bodies at rest (that is, in causing decomposition, or overcoming resistance), and if the vital force is analogous in its manifesta- tions to other forees, this momentum of motion must be capable of being conveyed or communi- cated by matters, which in themselves do not de- stroy its effect by an opposite manifestation of force. Motion, by whatever cause produced, cannot in itself be annihilated ; it may indeed become inap- preciable to the senses, but even when arrested by IN THE ANIMAL ORGANISM. 205 resistance (by the manifestation of an opposite force), its effect is not annihilated. The falling stone, by means of the amount of motion acquired in its descent, produces an effect when it reaches the table. The impression made on the wood, the velocity communicated by its parts to those of the wood,—all this is its effect. If we transfer the conceptions of motion, equi- librium, and _ resistance, to the chemical forces, which, in their modus operandi, approach to the vital force infinitely nearer than gravitation does, we know with the utmost certainty, that they are active only in the case of immediate contact. We know also, that the unequal capacity of chemical compounds to offer resistance to external disturbing influences, to those of heat, or of electricity, which tend to separate their particles, as well as their power of overcoming resistance in other compounds (of causing decomposition); that, in a word, the active force in a compound depends on a certain order or arrangement, in which its elementary par- ticles touch each other. The same elements, united in a different order, when in contact with other compounds, exert a most unequal power of offering or overcoming re- sistance. In one form the force manifested is available (the body is active, an acid, for example) ; in another not (the body is indifferent, neutral) ; in a third form, the momentum of force is opposed to that of the first (the body is active, but a base). 206 THE PHENOMENA OF MOTION If we alter the arrangement of the elements, weare able to separate the constituents of a compound by means of another active body; while the same ele- ments, united in their original order, would have opposed an invincible resistance to the action of the decomposing agent. In the same way as two equal inelastic masses, impelled with equal velocity from opposite points, on coming into contact are brought to rest; in the same way, therefore, as two equal and opposite mo- menta of motion mutually destroy each other; so may the momentum of force in a chemical com- pound be destroyed in whole or in part by an equal or unequal, and opposite momentum of force in a second compound. But it cannot be annihilated as long as the arrangement of the elementary particles, by which its inherent force was mani- fested, is not changed. The chemical force of sulphuric acid is present in sulphate of lime as entire as in oil of vitriol. It is not appreciable by the senses; but if the cause be removed which prevented its manifestation, it appears in its full force in the compound in which it properly resides. Thus the force of cohesion in a solid may disap- pear, to the senses, from the action of a chemical force (in solution), or of heat (in fusion), without being in reality annihilated or even weakened. If we remove the opposing force or resistance, the force of cohesion appears unchanged in crystallization. IN THE ANIMAL ORGANISM. 207 By means of the electrical force, or that of heat, we can give the most varied directions to the mani- festations of chemical force. By these means we can fix, as it were, the order in which the elemen- tary particles shall unite. Let us remove the cause (heat or electricity) which has turned the balance in favour of the weaker attraction in one direction, and the stronger attraction will shew itself continu- ally active in another direction; and if this stronger attraction can overcome the vis inertiz of the ele- mentary particles, they will unite in a new form, and a new compound of different properties must be the result. In compounds of this kind, in which, therefore, the free manifestation of the chemical force has been impeded by other forces, a blow, or mechanical friction, or the contact of a substance, the particles of which are in a state of motion (decomposition, transformation), or any external cause, whose ac- tivity is added to the stronger attraction of the ele- mentary particles in another direction, may suffice to give the preponderance to this stronger attrac- tion, to overcome the vis inertiz, to alter the form and structure of the compound, which are the result of foreign causes, and to produce the resolu- tion of the compound into one or more new com- pounds with altered properties. Transformations, or as they may be called, phe- nomena of motion, in compounds of this class, may be effected by means of the free and available 208 THE PHENOMENA OF MOTION chemical force of another chemical compound, and that without its manifestation being enfeebled or arrested by resistance. Thus the equilibrium in the attraction between the elements of cane-sugar is destroyed by contact with a very small quantity of sulphuric acid, and it is converted into grape-sugar. In the same way we see the elements of starch, under the same influence, arrange themselves with those of water in a new form, while the sulphuric acid, which has served to produce these transforma- tions, loses nothing of its chemical character. In regard to other substances on which it acts, it remains as active as before, exactly as if it had exerted no sort of influence on the cane-sugar or starch. In contradistinction to the manifestations of the so-called mechanical forces, we have recognized in the chemical forces causes of motion and of change in form and structure, without any observable ex- haustion of the force by which these phenomena are produced; but the origin of the continued manifestation of activity remains still the same; it is the absence of an opposite force (a resistance) capable of neutralizing it or bringing it into the state of equilibrium. As the manifestations of chemical forces (the momentum of force in a chemical compound) seem to depend on a certain order in which the elemen- tary particles are united together, so experience tells us, that the vital phenomena are inseparable IN THE ANIMAL, ORGANISM. 209 from matter; that the manifestations of the vital force in a living part are determined by a certain form of that part, and by a certain arrangement of its elementary particles. If we destroy the form, or alter the composition of the organ, all manifesta- tions of vitality disappear. There is nothing to prevent us from considering the vital force as a peculiar property, which is pos- sessed by certain material bodies, and becomes sen- sible when their elementary particles are combined in a certain arrangement or form. This supposition takes from the vital phenomena nothing of their wonderful peculiarity; it may therefore be considered as a resting point, from which an investigation into these phenomena, and the laws which regulate them, may be commenced ; exactly as we consider the properties and laws of light to be dependant on a certain luminiferous matter, or ether, which has no further connection with the laws ascertained by investigation. Considered under this form, the vital force unites in its manifestations all the peculiarities of chemical forces, and of the not less wonderful cause, which we regard as the ultimate origin of electrical phe- nomena. The vital force does not act, like the force of gra- vitation or the magnetic force, at infinite distances, but, like chemical forces, it is active only in the case of immediate contact. It becomes sensible by means of an aggregation of material particles. p 210 THE PHENOMENA OF MOTION A living part acquires, on the above supposition, the capacity of offering and of overcoming re- sistance, by the combination of its elementary par- ticles in a certain form; and as long as its form and composition are not destroyed by opposing forces, it must retain its energy uninterrupted and unimpaired. When, by the act of manifestation of this energy in a living part, the elements of the food are made to unite in the same form and structure as the living organ possesses, then these elements acquire the same powers. By this combination, the vital force inherent in them is enabled to manifest itself freely, and may be applied in the same way as that of the previously existing tissue. If, now, we bear in mind, that all matters which serve as food to living organisms are com- pounds of two or more elements, which are kept together by certain chemical forces; if we reflect that in the act of manifestation of force in a liv- ing tissue, the elements of the food are made to combine in a new order ;—it is quite certain that the momentum of force or of motion in the vital force was more powerful than the chemical attrac- tion existing between the elements of the food.* * The hands of a man, who raises with a rope and simple pulley, 30lbs. to the height of 100 feet, pass over a space of 100 feet, while his muscular energy furnishes the equilibrium to a pressure of 30lbs. Were the force which the man could exert not greater than would suffice to keep in equilibrium a pressure of IN THE ANIMAL ORGANISM. OTF The chemical force which kept the elements to- gether acted as a resistance, which was overcome by the active vital force. Had both forces been equal, no kind of sensible effect would have ensued. Had the chemical force been the stronger, the living part would have under- gone a change. If we now suppose that a certain amount of vital force must have been expended in bringing to an equilibrium the chemical force, there must still re- main an excess of force, by which the decompo- sition was effected. This excess constitutes the momentum of force in the living part, by means of which the change was produced; by means of this excess the part acquires a permanent power of causing further decompositions, and of retaining its condition, form, and structure, in opposition to ex- ternal agencies. We may imagine this excess to be removed, and employed in some other form. This would not of itself endanger the existence of the living part, because the opposing forces would be left in equi- librio; but, by the removal of the excess of force, the part would lose its capacity of growth, its power to cause further decompositions, and its ability to re- sist external causes of change. If, in this state of equilibrium, oxygen (a chemical agent) should be brought in contact with it, then there would be no 301bs., he would be unable to raise the weight to the height men- tioned. Eo? 912 THE PHENOMENA OF MOTION resistance to the tendency of the oxygen to combine with some element of the living part, because its power of resistance has been taken away by some other application of its excess of vital force. Ac- cording to the amount of oxygen brought to it, a certain proportion of the living part would lose its condition of vitality, and take the form of a che- mical combination, having a composition different from that of the living tissue. In a word, there would occur a change in the properties of the living compound, or what we have called a change of matter. If we reflect that the capacity of growth or increase of mass in plants is almost unlimited; that a hundred twigs from a willow tree, if placed in the soil, become a hundred trees; we can hardly enter- tain a doubt, that with the combination of the ele- ments of the food of the plant so as to form a part of it,a fresh momentum of force is added in the newly formed part to the previously existing mo- mentum in the plant; insomuch, that with the in- crease of mass, the sum of vital force is augmented. According to the amount of available vital force, the products formed by its activity from the food are varied. The composition of the buds, of the radical fibres, of the leaf, of the flower, and of the fruit, are very different one from the other; and the chemical force by which their elements are held together is very different in each of these cases. Of the non-azotised constituents of plants we IN THE ANIMAL ORGANISM. 913 may assert, that no part of the momentum of force is expended in maintaining their form and structure, when their elements have once combined in that order in which they become parts of organs endued with vitality. Very different is the character of the azotised vegetable principles; for, when separated from the plant, they pass, as is commonly said, spontaneously, into fermentation and putrefaction. The cause of this decomposition or transformation of their ele- ments is the chemical action which the oxygen of the atmosphere exercises on one of their constituents. Now we know, that as long as the plant exhibits the phenomena of life, oxygen gas is given off from its surface; that this oxygen is altogether without action on the constituents of the living plant, for which, in other circumstances, it has the strongest attraction. It is obvious, therefore, that a certain amount of vital foree must be expended, partly to retain the elements of the complex azotised prin- ciples in the form, order, and structure which be- long to them; and partly as a means of resistance against the incessant tendency of the oxygen of the atmosphere to act on their elements, as well as against that of the oxygen separated in the organ- ism of the plant by the vital process. With the increase of these easily altered com- pounds, in the flower and in the fruit, for example, the sum of chemical- force (the free manifestation of which, counteracted by an equal measure of vital 214 THE PHENOMENA OF MOTION force, is employed to furnish resistance) also in- creases. The plant increases in mass until the vital force inherent in it comes into equilibrium with all the other causes opposed to its manifestation. From this period, every new cause of disturbance, added to those previously existing (a change of tempera- ture, for example), deprives it of the power of offer- ing resistance, and it dies down. In perennial plants (in trees, for example), the mass of the easily decomposable (azotised) com- pounds, compared with that of the non-azotised, is so small, that of the whole sum of force, only a mi- nimum is expended as resistance. In animals, this proportion is reversed. During every period of the life of a plant, the available vital force (that which is not neutralized by resistance) is expended only in one form of vital manifestation, that of growth or increase of mass, or the overcoming of resistance. No part of this force is applied to other purposes. In the animal organism, the vital force exhibits itself, as in the plant, in the form of the capacity of growth, and as the means of resistance to external agencies ; but both of these manifestations are con- fined within certain limits. We observe in animals, that the conversion of food into blood, and the contact of the blood with the living tissues, are determined by a mechanical force, whose manifestation proceeds from distinct IN THE ANIMAL ORGANISM. 915 organs, and is effected by a distinct system of or- gans, possessing the property of communicating and extending the motion which they receive. We find the power of the animal to change its place and to produce mechanical effects by means of its limbs, dependant on a second similar system of organs or apparatus. Both of these systems of apparatus, as well as the phenomena of motion proceeding from them, are wanting in plants. In order to form a clear conception of the origin and source of the mechanical motions in the animal body, it may be advantageous to reflect on the mo- dus operandi of other forces, which in their mani- festations are most closely allied to the vital force. When a number of plates of zinc and copper, arranged in a certain order, are brought into con- tact with an acid, and when the extremities of the apparatus are joined by means of a metallic wire, a chemical action begins at the surface of the plates of zine, and the wire, in consequence of this action, acquires the most singular and wonderful properties. The wire appears as the carrier or conductor of a force, which may be conducted and communicated through it in every direction with amazing velocity. It is the conductor or propagator of an uninterrupted series of manifestations of activity. Such a propagation of motion is inconceivable, if in the wire there were a resistance to be overcome; for every resistance would convert a part of the moving force into a force at rest. 216 THE PHENOMENA OF MOTION When the wire is divided in the middle, and its continuity interrupted, the propagation of force ceases, and we observe, that in this case the action between the zine and the acid is immediately stopped. If the communication be restored, the action which had disappeared reappears with all its origi- nal energy. By means of the force present in the wire, we can produce the most varied effects; we can over- come all kinds of resistance, raise weights, set ships in motion, &e. And, what is still more remarkable, the wire acts as a hollow tube, in which a current of chemical force circulates freely and without hin- drance. Those properties which, when firmly attached to certain bodies, we call the strongest and most ener- getic affinities, we find, to all appearance, free and uncombined in the wire. We can transport them from the wire to other bodies, and thereby give to them an affinity (a power of entering into combina- tion) which in themselves they do not possess. Ac- cording to the amount of force circulating in the wire, we are able by means of it to decompose com- pounds, the elements of which have the strongest attraction for each other. Yet the substance of the wire takes not the smallest share in all these mani- festations of force; it is merely the conductor of force. We observe, further, in this wire, phenomena of IN THE ANIMAL ORGANISM. 217 attraction and repulsion, which we must ascribe to tbe disturbance of the equilibrium in the electric or magnetic force; and when this equilibrium is restored, the restoration is accompanied by the de- velopement of light and heat, its never-failing com- panions. All these remarkable phenomena are produced by the chemical action which the zine and the acid exert on each other; they are accompanied by a change in form and structure, which both undergo. The acid loses its chemical character; the zine enters into combination with it. The manifestations of foree produced in the wire are the immediate consequence of the change in the properties of the acid and the metal. One particle of acid after another loses its pecu- liar chemical character; and we perceive that in the same proportion the wire acquires a chemical, mechanical, galvanic, or magnetic force, whatever name be given to it. According to the number of acid particles which in a given time undergo this change, that is, according to the surface of the zine, the wire receives a greater or less amount of these forces. The continuance of the current of force depends on the duration of the chemical action; and the duration of the latter is most closely connected with the carrying away, by conduction, of the force. If we check the propagation of the current of force, the acid retains its chemical character. If 218 THE PHENOMENA OF MOTION we employ it to overcome chemical or mechanical resistance, to decompose chemical compounds, or to produce motion, the chemical action continues ; that is to say, one particle of acid after another changes its properties. In the preceding paragraphs we have considered these remarkable phenomena in a form which is independent of the explanations of the schools. Is the force which circulates in the wire the electrical force? Is it chemical affinity? Is it propagated in the conductor like a fluid set in motion, or in the form of a series of momenta of motion, like light and sound, from one particle of the conductor to another? All this we know not, and we shall never know. All the suppositions which may be employed as explanations of the phenomena have not the slightest influence on the truth of these phenomena; for they refer merely to the form in which they are manifested. On some points, however, there is no doubt; namely, that all the effects which may be produced — by the wire are determined by the change of pro- perties in the zine and in the acid; for the term “chemical action” signifies neither more nor less than the act of change in them; that these effects depend on the presence of a conductor, of a sub- stance which propagates in all directions, where it is not neutralized by resistance, the force or mo- mentum produced; that this foree becomes a mo- mentum of motion, by means of which we can pro- IN THE ANIMAL ORGANISM. 219 duce mechanical effects, and which, when transferred to other bodies, communicates to them all those pro- perties, the ultimate cause of which is the chemical force itself; for these bodies acquire the power of causing decompositions and combinations, such as, without a supply of force through the conductor, they could not effect. If we employ these well-known facts as means to assist us in investigating the ultimate cause of the mechanical effects in the animal organism, ob- servation teaches us, that the motion of the blood and of the other animal fluids proceeds from distinct organs, which, as in the case of the heart and in- testines, do not generate the moving power in them- selves, but receive it from other quarters. We know with certainty that the nerves are the conductors and propagators of mechanical effects ; we know, that by means of them motion is propa- gated in all directions. For each motion we recog- nize a separate nerve, a peculiar conductor, with the conducting power of which, or with its interrup- tion, the propagation of motion is affected or de- stroyed. By means of the nerves all the parts of the body, all the limbs, receive the moving force which is in- dispensable to their functions, to change of place, to the production of mechanical effects. Where nerves are not found, motion does not occur. The excess of force generated in one place is conducted to other parts by the nerves. The foree which one 220) THE PHENOMENA OF MOTION organ cannot produce in itself is conveyed to it from other quarters; and the vital force which is wanting to it, in order to furnish resistance to ex- ternal causes of disturbance, it receives in the form of excess from another organ, an excess which that organ cannot consume in itself. We observe further, that the voluntary and in- voluntary motions, in other words, all mechanical effects in the animal organism, are accompanied by, nay, are dependant on, a peculiar change of form and structure in the substance of certain living parts, the increase or diminution of which change stands in the very closest relation to the measure of motion, or the amount of force consumed in the motions performed. As an immediate effect of the manifestation of mechanical force, we see, that a part of the mus- cular substance loses its vital properties, its cha- racter of life; that this portion separates from the living part, and loses its capacity of growth and its power of resistance. We find that this change of properties is accompanied by the entrance of a foreign body (oxygen) into the composition of the muscular fibre (just as the acid lost its chemical character by combining with zinc); and all experi- ence proves, that this conversion of living muscular fibre into compounds destitute of vitality is accele- rated or retarded according to the amount of force employed to produce motion. Nay, it may safely be affirmed, that they are mutually proportional ; IN THE ANIMAL ORGANISM. 221 that a rapid transformation of muscular fibre, or, as it may be called, a rapid change of matter, deter- mines a greater amount of mechanical force; and conversely, that a greater amount of mechanical motion (of mechanical foree expended in motion) determines a more rapid change of matter. From this decided relation between the change of matter in the animal body and the force con- sumed in mechanical motion, no other conclusion can be drawn but this, that the active or available vital force in certain living parts is the cause of the mechanical phenomena in the animal organism. The moving force certainly proceeds from living parts ; these parts possessed a momentum of force or of motion, which they lost in proportion as other parts acquired a momentum of force or of motion; they lose their capacity of growth, and their power to resist external causes of change. It is obvious that the ultimate cause, the vital force, from which they acquired those properties, has served for the production of mechanical force, that is, has been expended in the shape of motion. How, indeed, could we conceive that a living part should lose the condition of life, should become in- capable of resisting the action of the oxygen con- veyed to it by the arterial blood, and should be deprived of the power to overcome chemical re- sistance, unless the momentum of the vital force, which had given to it all these properties, had been expended for other purposes ? oF? THE PHENOMENA OF MOTION By the power of the conductors, the nerves, to propagate the momentum of force in a living part, or the effect which the active vital force inherent in the part produces on all the surrounding parts, in all directions where the force, or rather its mo- mentum of motion, is consumed without resistance (for without motion no change of matter occurs, and when motion has begun, there is no longer re- sistance), an equilibrium is obviously established in the living part, between the chemical forces and the remaining vital force ; which equilibrium would not have occurred had not vital force been expended in producing mechanical motion. In this state, any external cause capable of ex- erting an influence on the form, structure, and com- position of the organ meets with no further re- sistance. If oxygen were not conveyed to it, the organ would maintain its condition, but without any manifestation of vitality. It is only with the com- mencement of chemical action that the change of matter, that is, the separation of a part of the organ in the form of lifeless compounds, begins. The change of matter, the manifestation of me- chanical force, and the absorption of oxygen, are, in the animal body, so closely connected with each other, that we may consider the amount of motion, and the quantity of living tissue transformed, as proportional to the quantity of oxygen inspired and consumed in a given time by the animal. For a certain amount of motion, for a certain proportion IN THE ANIMAL ORGANISM 223 of vital foree consumed as mechanical foree, an equivalent of chemical force is manifested; that is, an equivalent of oxygen enters into combination with the substance of the organ which has lost the vital force ; and a corresponding proportion of the substance of the organ is separated from the living tissue in the shape of an oxidised compound. All those parts of the body which nature has destined to effect the change of matter, that is, to the production of mechanical force, are penetrated in all directions by a multitude of the most minute tubes or vessels, in which a current of oxygen con- tinually circulates, in the form of arterial blood. To the above-mentioned separation of part of the elements of these parts, in other words, to the dis- turbance of their equilibrium, this oxygen is abso- lutely essential. As long as the vital force of these parts is not conducted away and applied to other purposes, the oxygen of the arterial blood has not the slightest effect on the substance of the organized parts; and in all cases, only so much oxygen is taken up as corresponds to the conducting power, and, conse- quently, to the mechanical effects produced. The oxygen of the atmosphere is the proper, ac- tive, external cause of the waste of matter in the animal body; it acts like a force which disturbs and tends to destroy the manifestation of the vital force at every moment. But its effect as a che- mical agent, the disturbance proceeding from it, is 294 THE PHENOMENA OF MOTION held in equilibrium by the vital force, which is free and available in the living tissue, or is annihilated by a chemical agency opposed to that of oxygen, the manifestation of which must be considered as dependant on the vital force. In chemical language, to annihilate the chemical action of oxygen, means, to present to it substances, or parts of organs, which are capable of combining with it. The action of oxygen (affinity) is either neutra- lized by means of the elements of organized parts, which combine with it (after the free vital force has been conducted away), or else the organ presents to it the products of other organs, or certain matters formed from the elements of the food, by the vital activity of certain systems of apparatus. It is only the muscular system which, in this sense, produces in itself a resistance to the che- mical action of oxygen, and neutralizes it com- pletely. The substance of cellular tissue, of membranes, and of the skin, the minutest particles of which are not in immediate contact with arterial blood (with oxygen), are not destined to undergo this change of matter. Whatever changes they may undergo in the vital process, affect, in all cases, only their surface. The gelatinous tissues, muccus membranes, ten- dons, &c., are not designed to produce mechanical force; they contain in their substance no con- IN THE ANIMAL ORGANISM. 995 ductors of mechanical effects. But the muscular system is interwoven with innumerable nerves. The substance of the uterus is in no respect differ- ent in chemical composition from the other mus- cles; but it is not adapted to the change of matter, to the production of force, and contains no organs for conducting away the moving power. Cellular tissue, gelatinous membranes, and mucous mem- branes, are far from being destitute of the power of combining with oxygen, when moisture is present ; we know that, when moist, they cannot be brought in contact with oxygen without undergoing a pro- gressive alteration. But one surface of the intes- tines and the cells of the lungs are constantly in contact with oxygen; and it is obvious that they must be as rapidly altered by the chemical action of the oxygen in the body as out of it, were it not that there exists in the organism itself a source of resistance, which completely neutralizes the action of the oxygen. Among the means by which this resistance is furnished we may include all sub- stances which are capable of combining with oxy- gen, or acquire that property under the influence of the vital force, and which surpass the tissues above mentioned in their power of neutralizing its chemical action. All those constituents of the body which, in themselves, do not possess, in the form of vital force, the power of resisting the action of oxygen, must be far better adapted for the purpose of com- Q 226 THE PHENOMENA OF MOTION bining with, and neutralizing it, than those tissues which are under the influence of the vital force, although only through the nerves. In this point of view, we cannot fail to perceive the importance of the bile in regard to the substance of the intestines, and that of the pulmonary cells, as well as that of fat, of mucus, and of the secretions generally. When the membranes are compelled from their own substance to furnish resistance to the action of the oxygen, that is, when there is a deficiency of the substances destined by nature for their protec- tion, they must, since their renewal is confined within narrow limits, yield to the chemical action. The lungs and intestines will always simultaneously suffer abnormal changes. From the change of matter itself, from the meta- morphosis of the living muscular tissue, these organs receive the means of resistance to the action of oxy- gen which are indispensable to their preservation. According to the rapidity of this process, the quan- tity of bile secreted increases; while that of the fat present in the body diminishes in the same propor- tion. For carrying on the involuntary motions in the -animal body, a certain amount of vital force is ex- pended at every moment of its existence; and, con- sequently, an incessant change of matter goes on; but the amount of living tissue, which, in conse- quence of this form of consumption of vital force, loses its condition of life and its capacity of growth, -IN THE ANIMAL ORGANISM, 227 is confined within narrow limits. It is directly proportional to the force required for these involun- tary motions. Now, although we may suppose that the living muscular tissue, with a sufficient supply of food, never loses its capacity of growth; that this form of vital manifestation is continually effective; this cannot apply to those parts of the body whose avail- able vital force has been expended in producing me- chanical effects. For the waste of matter, in con- sequence of motion and laborious exertion, is ex- tremely various in different individuals. If we reflect, that the slightest motion of a finger consumes force; that in consequence of the force expended, a corresponding portion of muscle dimi- _nishes in volume; it is obvious, that an egutlebrium between supply and waste of matter (in living tissues) can only occur when the portion separated or ex- pelled in a lifeless form is, at the same instant in which it loses its vital condition, restored in another part. The capacity of growth or increase in mass de- pends on the momentum of force belonging to each part ; and must be capable of continued manifesta- tion (if there be a sufficient supply of nourishment), as long as it does not lose this momentum, by ex- pending it, for example, in producing motion. In all circumstances, the growth itself is restricted to the time; that is to say, it cannot be unlimited in a limited time. Q 2 228 THE PHENOMENA OF MOTION A living part cannot increase in volume at the same moment in which a portion of it loses the vital condition, and is expelled from the organ in the form of a lifeless compound; on the contrary, its volume must diminish. The continued application of the momentum of force in living tissues to mechanical effects deter- mines, therefore, a continued separation of matter ; and only from the period at which the cause of waste ceases to operate, can the capacity of growth be manifested. Now, since, in different individuals, according to the amount of force consumed in producing volun- tary mechanical effects, unequal quantities of living tissue are wasted, there must occur, in every indi- vidual, unless the phenomena of motion are to cease entirely, a condition in which all voluntary mo- tions are completely checked, in which, therefore, these occasion no waste. This condition is called sleep. The growth of one part, which is not deprived of its vital force, cannot be in the slightest degree affected by the consumption of the vital force of another part in producing motion. The one may increase in volume, while the other diminishes; and the waste in one can neither increase nor diminish the supply in the other. Now, since the consumption of force for the in- voluntary motions continues in sleep, it is plain that a waste of matter also continues in that state; and IN THE ANIMAL ORGANISM. 229 if the original equilibrium is to be restored, we must suppose that, during sleep, an amount of force is accumulated in the form of living tissue, exactly equal to that which was consumed in voluntary and involuntary motion during the preceding waking period. If the equilibrium between waste and supply of matter be in the least degree disturbed, this is in- stantly seen in the different amount of force avail- able for mechanical purposes. It is further obvious, that if there should occur a disproportion between the conducting power of the nerves of voluntary and involuntary motion, a dif- ference in the phenomena of motion themselves will be perceptible, in the same proportion as the one or the other is capable of propagating the momentum of force, generated by the change of matter. As the motions of the circulating system and of the intestines increase, the power of pro- ducing mechanical effects in the limbs must dimi- nish in the same proportion (as in wasting fevers) ; and if, in a given time, more vital force has been consumed for mechanical purposes (labour, running, dancing, &c.) than is properly available for the vo- luntary and involuntary motions; if force be ex- pended more rapidly than the change of matter can be effected in the same time; then a part of that force which is necessary for the involuntary mo- tions must be expended in restoring the excess of force consumed in voluntary motion. The motions 230 THE PHENOMENA OF MOTION of the heart and of the intestines, in this case, will be retarded, or will entirely cease. From the unequal degree of conducting power in the nerves, we must deduce those conditions which are termed paralysis, syncope, and spasm. Para- lysis of the nerves of voluntary motion may exist without emaciation; but frequently recurring at- tacks of epilepsy (in which vital force is rapidly wasted in producing mechanical effects) are always accompanied by remarkably rapid emaciation. It ought to excite the highest admiration when we consider with what infinite wisdom the Creator has divided the means by which animals and plants are qualified for their functions, for their peculiar vital manifestations. The living part of a plant acquires the whole force and direction of its vital energy from the ab- sence of all conductors of force. By this means the leaf is enabled to overcome the strongest chemical attractions, to decompose carbonic acid, and to as- similate the elements of its nourishment. In the flower alone does a process similar to the change of matter in the animal body occur. There, phenomena of motion appear; but the mechanical effects are not propagated to a distance, owing to the absence of conductors of force. The same vital force which we recognize in the plant as an almost unlimited capacity of growth, is converted in the animal body into moving power (into a current of vital force); and a most IN THE ANIMAL ORGANISM. 231 wonderful and wise economy has destined for the nourishment of the animal only such compounds as have a composition identical with that of the organs which generate force, that is, with the muscular tissue. The expenditure of force which the living parts of animals require, in order to reproduce themselves from the blood; the resistance of the chemical force which has to be overcome in the azotised constituents of food by the vital agency of the organs destined to convert them into blood ; these are as nothing compared to the force with which the elements of carbonic acid are held to- gether. Jaf +e a oe d shiesicay ce ni drag ole omueda es see ota a ’ gy eT es See i ° = Cn et coal = | - 4 tke 4 : wf : | - i = ~* a ~ aR x = me oat - ~ ¥ - 2 o* co ts fa - ar) . e af i, ; + cA ry 7x 4 ‘t} £7 49% ? ® z ? - 4 « ce * », - a “¥ at 5 rat € if t ts 4 ba 4 t 4 bi L . 7 4 7 = nnd i > 7RRS id ? ri 7 77Y . ci Bee Pri 2) as 1 Ly e ee , a 1 75 P >, jp ree Oe ’ Bi P a < pile = < ‘. A * 3 - - _ 7 y t ~ = A ; yr ; 22 ome, A BREAN DalSX : CONTAINING THE ANALYTICAL EVIDENCE REFERRED TO IN THE SECTIONS IN WHICH ARE DESCRIBED CHEMICAL PROCESSES OF RESPIRATION, OF RUTREILON: AND OF THE METAMORPHOSIS OF TISSUES. *,* The Notes correspond with the numbers in parentheses in the teat. All the Analyses quoted, which have the mark * attached, have been made in the chemical laboratory of the University of Giessen. Oa ree ~_ 2 P Ce La ‘oa. ¢ (ie Fz A ; ek : 3 ; sayy - , : = - = 1 ee fy ey A ; ‘ TARTAR OT BS, ) : bs : a ; A : ; me iS t/ ; . a4 } ooh i 4 =4t j 4 Parag ri } ae et, f ‘ Mvi9 A lem? ie c ye 7 ‘ ’ \ ry ‘ - v4 AL EE aN 1 ox INTRODUCTION TO THE ANALYSES. Tue method formerly employed to exhibit the differ- ences in composition of different substances, that, namely, of giving the proportions of the various elements in 100 parts, has been long abandoned by chemists ; because it affords no insight into the relations which exist between two or more compounds. In order to give some proofs of this statement, we shall here state, in that form, the composition of aldehyde and acetic acid, of oil of bitter almonds and benzoic acid. Acetic acid. Aldehyde. Benzoic acid. } +44 ee aie Carbon ...... 40°00 55°024 69°25 79°56 Hydrogen ... 6°67 8°983 4°86 5°56 Oxygen ...... 53°33 35°9938 25°89 14°88 Now aldehyde is converted into acetic acid, and oil of bitter almonds into benzoic acid, simply by the addition of oxygen, without any change in regard to the other elements. This important relation cannot be traced in the mere numerical results of analysis as above given ; but 280 APPENDIX. if the composition of the related compounds be expressed in formule, according to equivalents, the connection in each case becomes obvious, even to him who knows no more of chemistry than that C represents an equivalent or combining proportion of carbon, H an equivalent of hydrogen, and O an equivalent of oxygen. Formula Formula — ee EN LE SS=|_,_ = LE... eee of acetic acid. of aldehyde. of benzoic acid. of oil of bitter almonds. CHO.) CHO. CA1.0,. C,,H,0.. These formule are exact expressions of the results of analysis, which, in each of the two cases quoted, refer to a fixed quantity of carbon; in one to 4 equivalents, in the other to 14. They shew, that acetic acid differs from aldehyde, and benzoic acid from oil of bitter almonds, only in the proportion of oxygen. Nor is it more difficult to understand the signification of the following formule. Cyamelide. 1 eq. cyanuric acid. 3 eq. hydrated cyanic acid. C;N;H;0, —— Cy;(= C,N;)O; aa 3HO = 3(CyO + HO) — — C,N;H,;0, = C ;N;H,0,. (In these formule, N represents an equivalent of nitro- gen, and Cy an equivalent of cyanogen. This latter sub- stance being composed of 2 equivalents of carbon and | eq. of nitrogen, Cy = C,N.) The first formula (that of cyamelide) is what is called an empirical formula, in which the relative proportions of the elements are, indeed, exactly known, but where we have not even a theory, far less any actual knowledge, of the order in which they are arranged. The second for- mula is intended to express the opinion that 3 eq. of eyanogen (= 6 eq.of carbon + 3 eq. of nitrogen) having ANALYTICAL EVIDENCE. 281 united to form a compound atom or molecule, have com- bined with 3 eq. of oxygen and 3 eq. of water, to form 1 eq. of hydrated cyanuric acid. The third expresses the order in which the elements are supposed to be arranged in hydrated cyanic acid, the whole multiplied by 3. Each equivalent of cyanic acid is formed of 1 eq. of cyanogen, 1 eq. of oxygen, and 1 eq. of water; and hence the same number of atoms of each element, which together formed 1 eq. of cyanuric acid, is here so divided as to yield 3 eq. of cyanic acid. We have here, therefore, the same absolute and relative amount of atoms of each element, arranged in three diffe- rent ways; yet in each of these the proportions of the elements, calculated for 100 parts, must of course be the same. It is easy, therefore, to see the advantage we pos- sess by the use of formule; that, namely, of exhibiting the relations existing between compounds of different composition; and that also of expressing the actual, probable, or possible differences between substances whose composition, in 100 parts, is the same, while their properties, as in the case above quoted, are perfectly distinct. It does not come within our province here to explain the method or rule by which the composition of a sub- stance, in 100 parts (as it is always obtained in analysis), is expressed in a formula; we shall only describe the rule for calculating, from a given formula, the composition in 100 parts. For this purpose it must be noted that C, in a chemical formula, signifies a weight of carbon expressed by the number 76°437 (according to the most recent determinations 75°8 or 75:0, a variation which has no effect whatever on the formule here adduced, all of which are calculated on the number 76°437); that H signifies a weight of hydrogen = 12°478; N a weight of 282 APPENDIX. nitrogen = 177:04; and lastly O a weight of oxygen == 4100: The formula of proteine, C,,N;H,,O.,, expresses, there-. fore, 48 times 76°437 = 3668°88 carbon, 6 times 177.040 = 1062°24 nitrogen, 36 times 12°478 = 449-26 hydrogen, 14 times 100°000 = 1400-00 oxygen. The sum gives a weight of 6580°38 proteine. Therefore— In 100 parts. In 6580°38 parts of proteine are contained 3668°88 carbon 55°742 In 6580-38 ditto 1062°24 nitrogen 16°143 In 6580-38 ditto 449-26 hydrogen 6°827 In 6580°38 ditto 1400-00 oxygen 21°288 100-000 The actual results of analysis, reduced to 100 parts, when compared with the above numbers, will shew how far the assumed formula is correct; or, supposing the for- mula ascertained, they will shew the degree of accuracy displayed by the experimenter. Thus the proportions in 100 parts, calculated from the formula, furnish an impor- tant check to the operator, and, conversely, the formula calculated from his results, when compared with other known formule, supplies a test of his accuracy, or of the purity of the substance analyzed. ANALYTICAL EVIDENCE. NOTE (1), p. 12. CONSUMPTION OF An adult man —___————————- kx / - consumes of oxygen _ produces of carbonie in 24 hours According to cubic in, Lavoisier and Seguin 46,037 Menzies :.....cce0scccce 01,480 BIG owe eons envce he 45,504 grains, 15,661 17,625 15,751 13,464 acid in 24 hours —____, cubic in. grains. 14,930 8,584 31,680 17,811 39,600 18,612 NOTE (2), p. 18. COMPOSITION OF DRY BLOOD (see note 28). In 100 parts. Carbon...... 51°96 Hydrogen... 7°25 Nitrogen .... 15°07 Oxygen =. 21°30 Ashes ...... 4°42 100-00 Grains. 2672°7 hydrogen do. Sum Deduct oxygen present UEDIGO, $35. 0080¢os5000 Remain ... eeee OXYGEN BY AN ADULT. Carbon contained carbonic acid. grains, 2,820 French. English, 4,853 do. 5,148 do. In 4°8 lbs. Hessian = 36,864 grains. seeetobeces 19154°5 Perslersicssleisiatd 2672°7 36864:0 Grains. 19154°5 carbon form, with 50539°5 oxygen, carbonic acid. 21415°8 dc. water. ==/71955°3 do I 7852°0 64103°3 grains of oxygen, required for the complete combustion of 4°8 lbs. of dry blood. It is assumed, in this calculation, that 24 Ibs. of blood yield 4°8 Ibs. (20 per cent.) of dry residue. mainder, 80 per cent., is water. The re- 284 APPENDIX. NOTE (3), p. 14. DETERMINATION OF THE AMOUNT OF CARBON EXPIRED. 1. ANALYSIS OF Feces. 2°356 dry feces left 0°320 ashes (13°58 per cent.) 0°352 dry feces yielded 0°576 carbonic acid, and 0°218 water. Lentils. 0°566 lentils, dried at 212°, yielded 0°910 carbonic acid, and 0°366 water. Pease. 1:060 pease, dried at 212°, left 0°037 ashes. 0°416 do. do. yielded 0°642 carbonic acid, and 0:241 water. Potatoes. 0:443 dried potatoes yielded 0-704 carbonic acid, and 0°248 water. Black Bread (Schwarzbrod). 0°302 dried black bread yielded 0°496 carbonic acid, and 0°175 water. 0°24) do. 0 393 do. 0°142 water. From the above, which are the direct results of experi- _ ment, the composition in 100 parts is calculated as in the following table. ANALYTICAL EVIDENCE. 2. Composition 285 Of Feces. Of Black Bread. Of Potatoes. Of Flesh. Playfair. Boeckmann.* Boussingault. Boeekmann,* A E—=ESSSNN Carbon ... 45°24 45:09 45°41 44:1 43°944 (See note Hydrogen 6°88 6°54 6°45 5°8 6°222° 28.) Nitrogen) A tei Cae a Z Oxygen J / 212 44°89 45°1 44°919 Ashes 13°15 S25 3°25 5:0 4°915 100°00 100:00 100:00 100-0 100-000 Water ... 300°00 400-°00 Of Pease. Of Lentils. Of Beans. Playfair.* Play fair.* Playfair.* (O02) sey eer 35°7438 37°38 38°24 Hydrogen 7 .2...... 5*401 5°54 5°84 Nitrogen SY with 39°366 37°98 38°10 Oxygen J PRS WCSR SUIS fe cs taiats 3°490 3°20 a7 1 WWraher et kt rs As 16°000 15°90 14°11 100-000 | 100-00 100°00 Fresh Meat. Potatoes. Black Bread. Boeckmann.* Boussingault. Boeckmann.* a ee ea WY aGGr.e. osck 3 wo 74:8 Too, 73°2 33 31°418 Dry Matter a 252, 27°38) 2 2678 67: ..68°592 100°0 100:0 100 100°000 100 100-0 3. CALCULATION, with the help of the preceding data, of the amount of carbon expired by an adult man. The following results are deduced from observations made (see table) on the average daily consumption of food, by from 27 to 30 soldiers in barracks for a month, or by 855 men for one 286 APPENDIX. day. The food, consisting of bread, potatoes, meat, lentils, pease, beans, &e., was weighed, with the utmost exactness, every day during a month (including even pepper, salt, and butter); and each article of food was separately subjected to ultimate analysis. The only ex- ceptions, among the men, to the uniform allowance of food, were three soldiers of the guard, who, in addi- tion to the daily allowance of 2 lbs. of bread, received, during each of the periods allotted for the pay of the troops, 24 lbs. extra; and one drummer, who, in the same period, left 23 lbs. unconsumed. According to an approximative report by the sergeant-major, each soldier consumes daily, on an average, out of barracks, 3 oz. of sausage, ?0z. of butter, 3 pint of beer, and +5 pint of brandy; the carbon of which articles amounts to more than double that of the feeces and urine taken together. In the soldier, the faeces amount daily, on an average, to 530z.; they contain 75 per cent. of water, and the dry residue contams 45°24 per cent. of carbon, and 13°15 per cent. of ashes. 100 parts of fresh feces consequently contain 11°31 per cent. of carbon, very nearly the same proportion as in fresh meat. In the calculation, the car- bon of the feeces and of the urine has been assumed as equal to that of the green vegetables, and of the food (sausages, butter, beer, &c.) consumed in the alehouse. From the observations, as recorded in the table, the following conclusions are deduced. Flesh.— Meat devoid of fat, if reckoned at 74 per cent. water, and 26 per cent. dry matter, contains in 100 parts very nearly 13°6 parts of carbon. Ordinary meat con- tains both fat and cellular tissue, which together amount to 1th of the weight of the meat as bought from the but- cher. The number of ounces consumed (by 855 men) was 4,448, consisting, therefore, of ANALYTICAL EVIDENCE. 287 3812°5 oz. of flesh, free from fat, containing of carbon 518°5 oz. 635°5 oz. of fat and cellular tissue, ditto 449:0 oz. 4448:0 oz. In all, carbon 967°5 oz. With the bones, the meat, as purchased, contains 29 per cent. of fixed matter, including bones; 4,4480z. of flesh therefore contain 448 0z. of dry bones. These have not been included in the calculation, although, when boiled, they yield from 8 to 10 per cent. of gelatine, which is taken as food in the soup. Fat.—The amount of fat consumed was 560z.; which, the carbon being calculated at 80 per cent., contain in all 44°8 oz. of carbon. Lentils, pease, and beans.—There were consumed 53:5 oz. of lentils, 185°50z. of pease, and 2180z. of beans. Assuming the average amount of carbon in these vege- tables to be 37 per cent., the total quantity of carbon consumed in this form was 169°1 oz. Potatoes.—100 parts of fresh potatoes contain 12-2 parts of carbon. In the 15,876 oz. of potatoes consumed, therefore, the amount of carbon was 1936°850z. Bread.—855 men eat daily 855 times 32 0z., besides 36lbs. of bread in the soup, which in all amounts to 27,936 oz. 100 oz. of fresh bread contain, on an average, 30°15 oz. of carbon ; consequently, the carbon consumed in the bread amounts to 8771°5 oz. The total consumption, therefore, was, ENGINED ber acta atc. yet anes scans 967°50 oz, of carbon. BT Che fab cop sass Famisamseciedenss dlsaes 44°80 ditto In the lentils, pease, and beans ... 169°10 ditto Rete WOCALOES. oe c.dcciirccnsseses ns 1936°85 ditto eg CHE DECHS ct 5 scsec docincs oaetees ve 8771°50 ‘ditto Consumed by 855 men ...... 11889°75 ditto Consumed by 1 man ........ss0000 13-9 ditto 288 APPENDIX. The feces of a soldier weigh 5°5 oz., and contain, in the fresh state, 11 per cent. of carbon. For 86 kreutzer (about 2s. 5d. sterling) there may be bought, on an average, 172 lbs. of vegetables, such as cabbages, greens, turnips, &c.: 25 maas of sour krout weigh 100 lbs. ; and for 483 kreutzer (1s. 5d. sterling) there are bought, on an average, 241 lbs. of onions, leeks, celery, &c.* 855 men consumed Of green ‘vegetables. ...........<00- 2,802 oz. Of sour krout 3.27 sessacd2- Ge. eee 1,600 OE ONIONS = Oss oasis beck cones te 388 aaa 22, seo sees eee 4,790 AG: ONE TAB. bo ccise vcs cis.0nwee see 5°6 oz For this reason, the carbon of the last-mentioned ar- ticles of food has been assumed as equal to that of the feeces and urine. Sausages, brandy, beer, in short, the small quantity of food taken irregularly in the alehouse, has not been included in the calculation. | The daily allowance of bread, being uniformly 2 lbs. per man, with the exceptions formerly mentioned, has not been inserted in the table, which includes only those matters of which, from the daily allowance being variable, an average was required. The small quantity of bread in the table is that given in the soup, which is over and above the daily supply. * In the original table, the quantities of these vegetables are entered ac- cording to their value in kreutzers, but they are here calculated by weight from the above data, as this appeared better adapted for comparison in this country than the prices would have been.—Ep. “AOL, Sueld ¢.Lep = St SFOUNPULOAR *2Z0 [ ATTY *(suread ORF = st Aor *20 1) AOL, suIvIS ZHP = URISSOF] “ZO [ puv SZTOL.[ : [se 10 *ZIZZ > OOOL 2: WeISsaFT q{ LT + Slodnpapoar ‘q] T ‘Kory, suread (00L = St stodnpayoar *q] [ ey} a0uIs ‘Aquanbasuog *slodnpsloae suiers JIL, = et ad surerd (0R9L = UvISSOT] ‘20 OT = URISSAF] “Q[ [ JY} SpauorjudUT oq o190y, Avur qt ‘yy s10OM stodnpaoae 0} s}ysiom aSaY} OONPAt OF YSIM Avui om asoy} JO WYoued OY) JOT “4[Nsat [edouIeT oy) Fuyoaye ynoyitm ‘payywo oq Avut Ady? Jys [[EUS Os ST YOrYM JO YO JO JUNOUWE OUT “wSaur, pure soddag ay} Surmdaoxa ‘s}ySIOM OULeS dy} O} PodNpat oad SARY 91q¥} SIY} UL sapIAE JUaayIp oy} ‘saouNO pue spunod uvissof] ae YAom Siy} JO 7X9} OY} UL pauOjUoUL s}YsIom OY} [12 SY—"A “N pey ueu ‘ er ocs |. I e ge . gs e g¢ e cs e ¢ * 0 . CCB er, e C6 e A cogs . eee . qurd YAL| +zo $28 |-ay TAL) +20 $28 | qr $8 | qi He |z0 fie] zo HtT —|+zo SBE! «zo $88 |-zo HAE I-20 He “qi 1] “20 BIT [20 444/""* Atte}! Yyova sae} -a19} ‘3 gz, SSS Be SS) SE = a pa _ —_— = ff st pay Ajiep our -gurd 42 |+z0 427 | ay te | zo Prt | “ards | artic | saestolzoAFr1 “sar g|'z0 betr|"20 tits|z0 Mto|-zogy “sqrpg| “sar gi [S41 teZ|ATUIUOTN, qe sean ISRIIAV UL, fT 9g | §ST T0Z 82 9¢ Gil 0OT 7c 9) FI ETItG Ill F246 €9 Ciz.| 998 ' |") TeIOn, BY fc 4% ee if 2 “ oe ee | eee TS OL aD 461 0g ZSt =: [TO 09. 392 al fc £Z ¥c $g tL 9¢ ays Horgau = s a 8 ILI $1 6€ LbL — |u9Gs 99:81 *sadesnes y10d oh Fer f¢ ty tf 9 ZI 91 “18, 846-8} Ob JAT 6 Le 9¢T [9902 09 WOT “bb 8 z §¢ ff tl ra 9I os ae at ee ZG eal 6 9¢ Of WST WLI 7 £01 §% t¢ ¢ $/ OL 9I = a nb 9 GOL 6 LE ChL | 01 93 19 ay Fel &% f ag c Z1 02 oe 8, Geer et On ZL 6 9¢ 681 WS 0} 9ST *syurd *ZO IY sq "Sql ‘Sq "sql “sq ‘ZO "SQ]|*ZO *Sq]|"ZO0 “sqy| *ZO “Sq “sq Sq “PI= "NE / *pooy ym | ay} WOT spre | "849% | «929 ‘syaary ‘dnog | ‘saa payddns | porod ay} uy "meSautA | yo ye | PAM | ‘suoyug | “UES Ur =| -BJaH9A} =" JNOIYINOG =| “SUNT | "sUBOg | “stag *390}8}0d *y10d PT | uaut jo | ‘4oquiaaon ur DIM prog udaI) Joquin N “OPBT ‘raddag EE A A SO Sea ST ee Lael es Ae "7pujsuAIe] assaf] JO oyNG puvay oy} Jo preny Apog oy} jo Auvduog v Aq ‘OFRT ‘AoquaaoN SuLIMp pouUMsUOD speNnyorA OY} JO Axewung & Surureyuo+) (E PION 0) "T ATAVAL U 290 TABLE IT.—Note (4), p. 14.4 APPENDIX. FOOD CONSUMED BY A HORSE IN TWENTY-FOUR HOURS. Weight | Weight | Salts Articles of | in the | in the Hydro- | Nitro- | and food. fresh dry aes gen. | Cae gen. | earthy state. state | matters. 13 | aa eee 7500! 6465 | 2961-0) 323°2/2502-0| 97-0 | 581°8 Wats” ices: 2270) 1927 977°0| 123°3| 707:°2| 42:4 Tel Water...... 16000 ks 25: Total ...| 25770) 8392 |3938-0| 446°5 | 3209-2/ 139-4 | 672°2 EXCRETIONS OF A HORSE IN TWENTY-FOUR HOURS. Weight | Weight Salts . in the | in the Hydro- Nitro- and eos. fresh dry aia ee Ones gen. earthy state. state. matters. Urine :....3- 1330} 302 LOS:7| 11°5 384°]1} 37°8| 109°9 Excrements| 14250} 3525 |13864°4) 179°8|1328°9| 77°6| 574°6 Total ...| 15580, 3827 |1472-9| 191-3|1363-0| 115-4| 6845 Total from the previous| 95779 8392 |3938-0| 446-5 | 3209-2] 139-4] 672-2 part of this Table. Difference | 10190) 4565 24651 255°2|1846°2| 24:0 k2's Aimee eee (geil bed ee ae a Boussingault, Ann. de Ch. et de Phys., LXX., 136. table are given in grammes. The weights in this 1 gramme = 15°44 grains Troy, very nearly. ANALYTICAL EVIDENCE. 291 TABLE I1.—Note (4), p. 14 (concluded). FOOD CONSUMED BY A COW IN TWENTY-FOUR HOURS. | Weight Lt Salts Articles of | in the | Weight Carbon.| Hydro- | gx gen |Nitro-| and food. fresh im the ‘| gen. y ‘| gen. | earthy state, | dry state. matters. Potatoes ...| 15000} 4170 | 1839-0) 241-9|1830°6 50:0) 208°5 After Grass| 7500) 6315 | 2974°4 353-6 | 2204:0 151°5| 631°5 Water.,.... 60000 50°0 Total ...| 82500; 10485 | 4813°4 595°5 40346 201°5 889-0 EXCRETIONS OF A COW IN TWENTY-FOUR HOURS. Weight =f > Salts Excretions, | i the ‘3 en Carbon. | Hydro- fae Nitro-| _ and fees [ot Se gen. gen. | earthy state. | dry state. | matters. pet Ne SS eee ia Excrements) 28413} 4000°0 1712-0) 208-0 | 1508-0 92°0 480°0 Prime te. 8200| 960°8| 261-4) 25:0} 253-7) 36:5 384-2 Malle ¥.4 22: 8539] 1150°6| 628-2} 99-0) 321:0| 46:0 56-4 Total ...) 45152} 6111-4 2601-6) 332-0|2082°7|174:5 920°6 Total of | | first part of | 82500) 10485-0, 4813-4) 595-5 4034-6 201-5 889-0 this Table. | Ber bas | . Difference | 37348] 4374-6 2211°8) 263-5/1951:9| 27-0 sal Sia ene aeeet Perea Or + or — = = ie | a Ste AB a aes | 7.2 292 APPENDIX. NOTE (5), p. 19. TEMPERATURE OF THE BLOOD AND FREQUENCY OF THE PULSE. According to Prevost and Dumas, The mean The frequency eee pers of the pulse _ of the respiration in the minute. in the minute. In the Picecon' “.....: 107°6° 136 34 Common Fow] ...... 106°7° 140 30 Duck wie ra 108°5° 170 21 RAVEN | yes acisniotie dente 108*5° 110 21 ISAK cho sccroseeenars 7 2? 200 29 Simia Callitriche .... 95°9° 90 30 Gumeadio . 52. --... 100°4° 140 36 | Dcrcs es Se ene one 99°3° 90 28 ab cane Soe donee 101°3° 100 24 Goatwer css secdees ses 102-52 84 24 RANG ee eee see 100°4° 120 36 PQS C I caeece decease’ 98°2° 56 16 WTAW a ivscbRavcc- 0d s 98°6° 72 18 Man (Liebig) ...... A ka a 65 17 Woman (Liebig) .... 98°2° 60 15 The temperature of a child is 102°2°. The temperature of the human body, in the mouth or in the rectum, for example, is from 97°7° to 98°6°. That of the blood (Majendie) is from 100°6° to 101:6°. As a mean temperature, 99°5° has been adopted in this work, page 19. ANALYTICAL EVIDENCE. 293 NOTE (6), p. 36. The prisoners in the house of arrest at Giessen receive daily 13 Ib. of bread (24 0z.), which contain 73 oz. of carbon. They receive, besides, 1 lb. of soup daily, and on each alternate day, | lb. of potatoes. 14 lb. of bread contains ......... 7°25 oz. of carbon. 1 Jb. of soup contains ............ 0°75 ditto 3 lb. of potatoes contains......... 1:00 ditto GRAD 2 dee aie deg es ote eens 9°00 dittot NOTE (7), p. 43. COMPOSITION OF THE FIBRINE AND ALBUMEN OF BLOOD. a Albumen from Serum of Blood. Fibrine. Scherer.* Scherer.* Mulder. IEE ao Ean i 10 F, III. I, TE III. (Carbon.:,,... —_—-_- -——— =: "1!" Carbotl........2:<- 79098 78°996 79.000 Hydrogen ...... 117146 11°700 11°416 O56 705) las ye Gapnogs 9°756 9°304 9°584 a Recherches Chim., sur les corps gras. Paris. 1823. NOTE (17), p. 84. COMPOSITION OF CANE SUGAR. According to Berzelius. Prout. W.Crum. Liebig.* a a ee & sm ae Carbon ...... 42°225 42°86 42°14 42°301 42°47 42°58 Hydrogen... 6°600 6°35 642 6:384 6:90 6°37 Oxygen ... 51175 50°79 51°44 51°315 50°63 51°05 For the composition of gum and of starch, see Notes (14) and (11). NOTE (18), p. 85. COMPOSITION OF CHOLESTERINE. According to Chevreul. a Couerbe. 6 Marchand. Calculated, C36 H32 O. Carbon ... 85°095 84°895 84°90 84:°641 Hydrogen 11°880 12-099 12°00 12°282 Oxygen ... 3°025 3°006 3°10 3°077 a Recherches sur les corps gras, p. 185. 6 Ann. de Ch. et de Phys. LVI., p, 164. ANALYTICAL EVIDENCE. 301 NOTE (19), p. 87. THE PRODUCTION OF WAX FROM SUGAR. a As soon as the bees have filled their stomach, or what is called the honey bladder, with honey, and cannot de- posit it for want of cells, the honey passes gradually in large quantity into the intestinal canal, where it is digested. The greater part is expelled as excrement; the rest enters the fluids of the bee. In consequence of this great flow of juices a fatty substance is produced, which oozes out on the eight spots formerly mentioned, which occur on the four lower scales of the abdominal rings, and soon hardens into lamine of wax. On the other hand, when the bees can deposit their honey, only so much enters the intestinal canal as is necessary for their support. The honey bladder need not be filled with honey longer than forty hours in order to bring to matu- rity, on the eight spots, eight lamine of wax, so that the latter fall off. I made the experiment of giving to bees, which I had enclosed in a box with their queen about the end of September, dissolved sugar-candy instead of honey. Out of this food lamine of wax were formed; but these would not separate and fall off readily, so that the mass, which continued to ooze out, remained, in most of the bees, hanging to the upper lamina; and the lamine of wax became as thick as four under ordinary circum- stances. The abdominal scales of the bees were, by means of the wax, distinctly raised, so that the waxen lamine projected between them. On examination, | a From F. W. Gundlach’s Natural History of Bees, p. 115. Cassel, 1842. We are acquainted with no more beautiful or convincing proof of the form- ation of fatty matter from sugar than the following process of the manu- facture of wax by the bee as taken from observation. 302 APPENDIX. found that these thick lamine, which under the micro- scope exhibited several lamellae, had a sloping surface downwards near the head, and upwards in the vicinity of the tail. The first waxen lamina, therefore, must have been pushed downwards by the second, because, where the abdominal scales are attached to the skin, there is no space for two lamine, the second by the third, and thus the inclined surfaces on the sides of the thick lamine had been produced. I saw distinctly from this, that the first- formed laminz are detached by those which follow. The sugar had been converted into wax by the bees, but it would seem that there was some imperfection in the pro- cess, as the lamine did not fall off, but adhered to the succeeding ones. In order to produce wax in the manner described, the bees require no pollen, but only honey. I have placed, even in October, bees in an empty hive, and fed them with honey ; they soon formed comb, although the wea- ther was such that they could not leave the hive. I can- not, therefore, believe that pollen furnishes food for the bees, but+I think they only swallow it in order, by mixing it with honey and water, to prepare the liquid food for the crubs. Besides, bees often starve in April, when their stock of honey is consumed, and when they can obtain in the fields abundance of pollen, but no honey. When pressed by hunger they tear the nymphe out of the cells, and gnaw them in order to support life by the sweet juice which they contain. But, if in this condition they are not artificially fed, or if the fields do not soon yield their proper food, they die in the course of a few days. Now, if the pollen were really nourishment for bees, they ought to be able to support life on it, mixed with water. Bees never build honeycomb unless they have a queen, or are provided with young out of which they can educate ANALYTICAL EVIDENCE. 3038 a queen. But if bees be shut up in a hive without a queen, and fed with honey, we can perceive in forty-eight hours that they have lamine of wax on their scales, and that some have even separated. The building of cells is therefore voluntary, and dependant on certain conditions, but the oozing out of wax is involuntary. One might suppose that a large proportion of these lamine must be lost, since the bees may allow them to fall off, out of the hive as well as in it; but the Creator has wisely provided against such a loss. If we give to bees engaged in building cells honey in a flat dish, and cover the dish with perforated paper, that the bees may not be entangled in the honey, we shall find, after a day, that the honey has disappeared, and that a large number of lamine are lying on the paper. It would appear as if the bees, which have carried off the honey, had let fall the scales; but it is not so. For, if above the paper we lay two small rods, and on these a board, overhanging the dish on every side, so that the bees can creep under the board and obtain the honey, we shall find next day the honey gone, but no lamine on the paper; while laminze will be found in abundance on the board above. The bees, therefore, which go for and bring the honey, do not let fall the lamine of wax, but only those bees which remain hanging to the top of the hive. Repeated experi- ments of this kind have convinced me that the bees, as soon as their lamine of wax are mature, return to the hive and remain at rest, just as caterpillars do, when about to change. In a swarm that is actively employed in building we may see thousands of bees hanging idly at the top of the hive. These are all bees whose lamine of wax are about to separate. When they have fallen off, the activity of the bee revives, and its place is occupied for the same purpose by another. 304 APPENDIX. (From page 28 of the same work.) In order to ascertain how much honey bees require to form wax, and how often, in a swarm engaged in building, the lamine attain maturity and fall off, I made the following experi- ment, which appears to me not uninteresting. On the 29th of August, of this year (1841), at a time when the bees could obtain in this district no farther supply of honey from the fields, I emptied a small hive, placed the bees in a small wooden hive, having first selected the queen bee, and shut her up in a box, furnished with wires, which I placed in the only door of the hive, so that no embryos could enter the cells. I then placed the hive in a window, that I might be able to watch it. At 6 p.m. I gave the bees 60z. of honey run from the closed cells, which had thus the exact consistence of freshly made honey. This had disappeared next morning. In the evening of the 30th I gave the bees 60z. more, which, in like manner, was removed by the next morning ; but already some lamin of wax were seen lying on the paper with which the honey was covered. On the 3lst August and the Ist September the bees had in the evening 10oz., and on the 3rd of September in the evening 70z.; in all, therefore, 1lb. 130z. of honey, which had run cold out of cells which the bees had already closed. On the 5th of September I stupified the bees, by means of puff-ball, and counted them. Their number was 2,765, and they weighed 100z. I next weighed the hive, the combs of which were well filled with honey, but the cells not yet closed ; noted the weight, and then allowed the honey to be carried off by a strong swarm of bees. This was completely effected in a few hours. I now weighed it a second time, and found it 12o0z. lighter; consequently the bees still had in the hive 12o0z. of the 290z. of honey given to them. I next extracted the combs, and found ANALYTICAL EVIDENCE. 305 that their weight was 2 of an ounce. I then placed’ the bees in another box, provided with empty combs, and fed them with the same honey as before. In the first few days they lost daily rather more than loz. in weight, and afterwards half an ounce daily, which was owing to the circumstance, that from the digestion of so much honey, their intestinal canal was loaded with excrements ; for 1,170 bees, in autumn, when they have been but a short time confined to the hive, weigh 4 0z.; consequently 2,765 bees should weigh 9o0z. But they actually weighed 100z., and therefore had within them | oz. of excrement, for their honey bladders were empty. During the night the weight of the box did not diminish at all, because the small quantity of honey the bees had deposited in the cells, having already the proper consistence, could not lose weight by evaporation, and because the bees could not then get rid of their excrements. For this reason, the loss of weight occurred always during the day. If, then, the bees, in seven days, required 33 oz. of honey to support and nourish their bodies, they must have consumed 133 0z. of honey in forming ? of an ounce of wax; and consequently, to form 1 lb. of wax, 20Ibs. of honey are required. This is the reason why the strongest swarms in the best honey seasons, when other hives, that have no occasion to build, often gain in one day 3 or 4lbs. in weight, hardly become heavier, although their activity is boundless. All that they gain is expended in making wax. ‘This is a hint for those who keep bees, to limit the building of comb. Cnauf has already recommended this, although he was not acquainted with the true relations of the subject. From loz. of wax, bees can build cells enough to contain 1 lb. of honey. 100 lamine of wax weigh 0-024 gramme (rather more than 3 of a grain), consequently, 1 kilogramme (= 15,360 x 306 APPENDIX. grains) will contain 4,166,666 lamine. Hence, § of an ounce will contain 81,367 lamine. Now this quantity was produced by 2,765 bees in six days; so that the bee requires for the formation of its 8 lamine (one crop) about thirty-eight hours, which agrees very well with my observations. The lamine, when formed, are as white as bleached wax. The cells also, at first, are quite white, but they are coloured yellow by the honey, and still more by the pollen. When the cold weather comes on, the bees retire to the hive under the honey, and live on the stock they have accumulated. P. 54. Many believe that bees are hybernating animals ; but this opinion is quite erroneous. They are lively throughout the winter; and the hive is always warm in consequence of the heat which they generate. The more numerous the bees in a hive, the more heat is developed ; and hence strong hives can resist the most intense cold. It once happened that I forgot to remove from the door, which was unusually large, of a hive in in winter, a perforated plate of tinned iron, which I had fastened over the opening to diminish the heat in July; and yet this hive came well through the winter, although the cold was very severe, having been for several days so low as 0°. But I had added to this hive the bees of two other hives! When the cold is very intense, the bees begin to hum. By this means respiration is accelerated and the developement of heat increased. If, in summer, bees without a queen are shut up in a glass box, they become uneasy and begin to hum. So much heat is by this means developed, that the plates of glass become quite hot. If the door be not opened in this case, or if air be not admitted, and if the glass be not cooled by the aid of water, the bees are soon suffocated. Carbon .., Hydrogen Oxygen ... ANALYTICAL EVIDENCE. COMPOSITION OF BEES WAX. pas pee ei De Saussure.b Oppermann.e Ettlingd Hesse 81-784 81°607 = 81-291 8115 = 81°52 12672 13859 14-073. = «:13°75 13-23 5-544 4°534 4636 5°09 525 a Traité de Chimie, par Thénard, 6™*- Ed., IV., 477. 6 Ann. de Ch, et de Phys., XIITI., 310. ec Ibid. XLIX., 224. d Annal, der Pharm., II., 267. e Ibid. XXVII., 6. NOTE (21) a, p. 104. 307 Calculated C2H2O0. 81°38 13°28 5°34 COMPOSITION OF HYDRATED CYANURIC ACID, OF HYDRATED CYANIC ACID, AND OF CYAMELIDE, IN 100 PARTS, ACCORDING TO THE ANALYSIS OF WOHLER AND LIEBIG.”* 4 COMPOSITION OF ALDEHYDE, Carbon .. Cyanuric acid, cyanic acid, cyamelide. Warbon”, .s23..07 seiee ee osee ss 28°19 Fiydrosen'si.5 .ctujeeeeses 2°30 Nitrogen) 7 REE 32°63 Onmyerem sss hee eee a 36°87 a Poggendorft’s Annalen, XX., 375 et seq. NOTE (21) b, p. 104. ELALDEHYDE. a Aldehyde. Metaldehyde. Elaldehyde. Liebig.* Fehling.* ———_—_—_—_——— eine 55°O24 54°511 54°620 54°467 Hydrogen... 8°983 9°054 9°248 9°075 »- 39°993 36°435 36°132 36°458 a Ann. der Pharm., XIV., 142, and XXVII., 319. x2 METALDEHYDE, AND Calculated C,H,402, 55°024 8°983 35°993 308 APPENDIX. NOTE (22), p. 105. COMPOSITION OF PROTEINE. From the From albumen. From fibrine, crystalline lens. Seeks a OO Carbon 5...3 2. 55°300 55°160 54°848 Hydrogen ...... 6:940 7°055 6°959 Nitrogen ...... 16°216 15°966 15°847 OXyZen......00¢ 21°544 21°819 22°346 Scherer.*a EE TE RTE Calculated From hair. From horn. CusH3gN,Ou- SO ee §¥-ruU“. Carbon:..3. 54°746 55°150 55°408 54°291 55°742 Hydrogen TABS 7°197 7°238 7°082 6°827 Nitrogen... 15°727 17 4F 15°593 15°5938 16°143 Oxygen ... 22°398 21°926 21°761 23°034 21°228 a Ann. der Chim. und Pharm., XL., 43. From vegetable From fibrine. From albumen. From cheese. albumen. Mulder. a Carbon ....e. 54°99 55°44 55°30 Sots Hydrogen ... 6°87 6°95 6°94 7°176 Nitrogen::..... 15°66 16°05 16°02 15°857 Oxygen ...... 22°48 21°56 21°74 21-808 a Ann. der Pharm., XXVIII., 75. NOTE (23), p. 107. COMPOSITION OF THE ALBUMEN OF THE YOLK AND OF THE WHITE OF THE EGG. a From the yolk. From the white. Jones.* Scherer. * Cerin ee mins CarVoH':+ sce Io Fe 53°45 55:000 Hydrogen .. 7°55 7°66 7°073 Nitrogen ...... 13°60 13°34 15°920 Oxygen Sulphur 25°13 25°55 22-007 Phosphorus a Ann. der Chem, und Pharm., XL., 36, ibid. 67. ANALYTICAL EVIDENCE. 309 NOTE (24), p. 111. COMPOSITION OF LACTIC ACID. C.H;0Os. Carbon cecsscoec.sececeee 44°90 Fly drogenssi:2..¢iyeacassy Wi Lt OXYGEN acoccccsecessee 48°99 NOTE (25), p. 115. GAS FROM THE ABDOMEN OF COWS AFTER EATING CLOVER TO EXCESS, OBTAINED BY PUNCTURE. a Examined by Lameyran and asia b By Vogel. c By Pfluger. Air. Carbonic acid. Inflammable gas. Sulphuretted hydrogen. 9 5 — 1 80 Vol. in 100 Vol. b 25 — 27 48 —_ Ci = 60 40 — c— _ 20 80 —_ NOTE (26), p. 118. MAGENDIE FOUND IN THE STOMACH AND INTESTINES OF EXECUTED CRIMINALS: a In the case of an individual who had taken food in moderation one hour previous to death; 6, in the case of one who had done so two hours previously ; and c, in the case of a third, who had done so four hours previous to execution. 100 Volumes of the gas contained. Oxygen. Nitrogen. Carbonic Inflammable acid. gas. From the stomach......s.e00. 11°00 Vol. 71°45 14°00 3°55 a 1 — _ smallintestines.:. 00°00 20°03 24°39 55°53 — large intestines... 00°00 51:03 43°50 5°47 From the stomach ............ 00°00 00:00 00-00 00°00 b< — _ small intestines ... 00°00 8°85 40°00 51°15 lL — large intestines ... 00°00 18°40 70°00 11°60 prom the stomach.....ssee.e. 00°00 00°00 00-00 00°00 c — small intestines... 00°00 66°60 25°00 8°40 L — large intestines ... 00°00 45°96 42°86 11°18 310 APPENDIX. NOTE (27), referred to in NOTE (7), p. 43. COMPOSITION OF ANIMAL ALBUMEN AND FIBRINE, AND OF THE DIFFERENT TISSUES OF THE BODY. 1. ALBUMEN. From the serum of blood. From eggs. From yolk of egg. Scherer.* a Jones.* 5 I. II. III. IV. Vv. VI. Carbon. .c2cee 53°850 55°461 55°097 55°000 53°72 53°45 Hydrogen 6°983 7°201 6°880 7°073 7°55 7°66 Nitrogen ...... 15°673 15°673 15°681 15:°920 13°60 13°34 Oxygen } Sulphur 23°494 21°655 22°342 22°007 25°13 25°55 Phosphorus i a Ann. der Chem. und Pharm., XL., 36. 6 Ibid, 67. Jones.* Scherer, * a From From From F ; A Stain, ydrocele. congestive has ee FD VII. VIII. 1D.¢ X. >. OF XII. Carbon ...... 55°50 54°92] 54°757 54°663 54°10] 54°302 Hydrogen ... 7°19 7077 “laa 7022 6°947 7°176 Nitrogen ...16°31 15°465 15-848 15°839 15°660 15°717 Oxygen Sulphur 21:00 22°537 22°224 22°476 23°292 22°805 Phosphorus Mulder. a Car Oia nei Set ea eats it 54°84 A VAUTOSEN vae.)06, Fd. stay oricla 7°09 INIEEG RON 2 seks nea eas. See sss 15°83 OXYGEN a: seater suse cess 21°23 Pulphur s soo.asee essa. «on esate 0°68 Phosphorus ..as4.22-2-ceteees 0°33 a Ann. der Pharm. XXVIII., 74. ANALYTICAL EVIDENCE. 2. FIBRINE. Scherer.* a 31] Se renee ieneeieentestoeeneeosacnenngennenenen ennngee eee emcees eee ( Vth) aos oo 5S i Il. III. IV. we Vile VII. Carbon ...... 53°671 54°454 55°002 54°967 53°571 54°686 54-844 Hydrogen ... 6°878 7°069 7°216 6°867 6°895 # 6°835 7°219 Nitrogen 15°763 15°762) 15-817 .15:913 15°720-.15°720 16-065 Oxygen Sulphur 23686) 22-405) 21-9684 22,244 (2a'Sl4-” 22°759" 21-872 Phosphorus a Ann. der Chem. und Pharm., XL., 33. Mulder. a Carlen ss css. Yeeeah ook: 54°56 Lg hf) 0¥ e273) eee She ene reeh eee 6°90 INIEROREN <2. to ccengeacrs- nes 15°72 Oxayreniy.c. . st gsein 08422 22°13 oUt 0) 0.1 eee rr eer e 0°33 Phosphorus ..........00+--++: 0°36 a Ann. der Pharm., XXVIIL., 74. 3. GELATINOUS TISSUES. Scherer.* @ ¢ ——————— A Tend f th Tuni Calculated. Isinglass. “ralf’s foot. ‘ sclerotion CisHs1N7401s, ——$——$$—_$_ —_—_—_—_—_—_—_—_——_—— Carbon... 50°557 49.563 50°960 50°774 50°995 50°207 Hydrogen 6°903 77148 87°188 yh ise 7°075 7°001 Nitrogen 18-790 18°470 18°320 18°320 18°723 18°170 Oxygen... 23°750 24°819 23°532 23°754 23°207 24°622 a Ann. der Chem. und Pharm,, XL., 46. Mulder. Cathoitens.!s... 17:188 16°901 L70 16°2 a Ann, der Pharm., XXVII., 289 and 293. In reference to the researches of Demargay on the bile I would make the following observations. 316 APPENDIX. The matter to which I have given the name of choleic acid is the bile itself separated from the inorganic con- stituents (salts, soda, &c.) which it contains. By the action of subacetate of lead aided by ammonia, all the organic constituents of the bile are made to unite with oxide of lead, with which they form an insoluble, resinous precipitate. The substance here combined with oxide of tead contains all the carbon and nitrogen of the bile. The substance which I have named choloidic acid is that which is obtained, when the bile, purified by alcohol from the substances insoluble in that fluid, is boiled for some time with an excess of muriatic acid. It contains all the carbon and hydrogen of the bile, except those portions which have separated in the form of taurine and ammonia. The cholic acid contains the elements of bile, minus those of carbonate of ammonia. These three compounds, therefore, contain the products of the metamorphosis of the entire bile ; their formule express the amount of the elements of the constituents of the bile. No one of them exists ready formed in the bile in the shape in which we obtain it; their elements are combined in a different way from that in which they were united in the bile; but the way in which these elements are arranged has not the slightest inference on the deter- mination by analysis of the relative proportions of the elements. In the formule themselves, therefore, is in- volved no hypothesis ; they are simply expressions of the results of analysis. It signifies nothing that the choleic or choloidic acids may be composed of several compounds united together. No matter how many such they may contain, the relative proportions of all the elements taken together is expressed by the formula which is derived from the analysis. The study of the products which are produced from the ANALYTICAL EVIDENCE. 317 bile by the action of the atmosphere, or of chemical re- agents, may be of importance in reference to certain pa- thological conditions; but except as concerns the general character of the bile, the knowledge of these products is of no value to the physiologist ; it is only a burthen which impedes his progress. It cannot be maintained of any one of the 38 or 40 substances, into which the bile has been divided or split up, that it exists ready formed in the healthy secretion; on the contrary, we know with certainty that most of them are mere products of the ac- tion of the re-agents which are made to act on the bile. The bile contains soda; but it is a most remarkable and singular compound of soda. When we cause that part of the bile which dissolves in alcohol (which contains nearly all the organic part) to combine with oxide of lead, thus separating the soda, and then remove the oxide of lead, we obtain a substance, choleic acid, which, when placed in contact with soda, forms a compound similar to bile in its taste ; but it is no longer bile; for bile may be mixed with organic acids, nay, even with dilute mineral acids, without becoming turbid or yielding a precipitate ; while the new compound, choleate of soda, is decomposed by the feeblest acids, the whole of the choleic acid being separated. Hence, bile cannot be considered, in any sense, as choleate of soda. Further, it may be asked, in what form are the cholesterine, and stearic, and margaric acids, which are. found in bile, contained in that fluid? Cholesterine is insoluble in water, and not saponifiable by alkalies; and if the two fatty acids just named were really present in the bile as soaps of soda, they would be instantly separated by other acids. Yet diluted acids cause no such separation of stearic and margaric acids in bile. It is possible that, in the course of new and repeated investigations, the composition of the substances obtained 318 APPENDIX. from bile may be found different from that which has been given in our analytical developement of this subject. But this, if it should happen, can have but little effect on our formule ; if the relative proportions of carbon and nitrogen be not changed, the differences will be confined to the proportions of oxygen and hydrogen. In that case it will be necessary for the developement of our views in formule, only to assume that more water and oxygen, or less water and oxygen, have taken a share in the meta- morphosis of the tissues; but the truth of the develope- ment of the process itself will not be by this means affected. NOTE (31), p. 135. COMPOSITION OF CHOLIC ACID.a Dumas. Calculated C74H6(601s. CarbON. s.scéivendes veces 68°5 68°9 Hydrogen ....... eesivae ha) 9-2 Oxy Sen veo seneccesseseanse Ml S Pi a Ann. der Pharm., XXVII., 295. NOTE (82), p. 137. COMPOSITION OF THE CHIEF CONSTITUENTS OF THE URINE OF MEN AND ANIMALS. 1. Uric Acip. Liebig.* a Mitscherlich. b Calculated C10HiNiO6, Carbon...... 36°083 35°82 36°00 Hydrogen... 2°44] 2°38 23°6 Nitrogen... 33°361 34°60 33°37 Oxygen ... 28°126 27°20 28°27 a Ann. der Pharm., X., 47. 6 Poggendorff’s Ann., XX XIII., 335. ANALYTICAL EVIDENCE. 2. ALLOXAN. @ 319 A PRODUCT OF THE OXIDATION OF URIC ACID. Carbon..... 30°38 Hydrogen... 2°57 Nitrogen .... 17°96 Oxygen 49°03 Prout. a Carbon..... 19°93 Hydrogen... 6°65 Nitrogen ... 46°65 Oxygen 26°63 © Liebig.* a Carbon..... 60°742 Hydrogen... 4°959 Nitrogen ... 7°816 Oxygen 26°483 (CARUOI